Oprah Leaving CBS To Finally Start Her Own Network?
Posted on November 6th, 2009 by olivia
Oprah has been in the works to start her own cable channel, The Oprah Winfrey Network, for some time. As a collaboration with Discovery, it would take the place of Discovery Health, which was a rather lackluster venture from the start.
But many have been questioning whether the super media giant would really leave the comfort of CBS, and enter into this shaky deal. It looks like that question may have been answered.
An amazingly well researched article by Deadline: Hollywood has found several sources close to Oprah that say she is finally planning to throw in the towel at CBS, busting through assumptions that another two years of extension were on the horizon.
CBS has claimed that they have no knowledge of this. But Oprah has been reinstating staff for her new network, getting together with producers and executives, and listening to TV pitches over the last few weeks.
Chances are, she is caving to pressure. After all, Discovery has lost a great deal of money so far as they have waited for Oprah to finally make her move. They are likely pressing her to jump in, or forget the whole thing.
But is this a good move for the talk show legend? After all, she has a well established show that has created a mega-brand. She has security in her contract. and a wide viewing audience. What are the chances of her reaching so many targeted groups from an obscure cable channel?
We will have more details as they emerge.
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