Oprah Winfrey Network
The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) is an American multinational basic cable television network which launched on January 1, 2011, effectively replacing the Discovery Health Channel. The OWN (also known as the “OWN Network”) is a joint venture between Warner Bros. Discovery and Harpo Studios, conceptualized largely by popular talkshow host, Oprah Winfrey—the name of Harpo Studios is Winfrey’s first name, spelled backwards.[1]
This article is about the division of Warner Bros. Discovery in partnership with Oprah Winfrey. For the Canadian version, see Oprah Winfrey Network (Canadian TV channel). For other uses, see Oprah Winfrey Network (disambiguation).Broadcast area
United States
Burbank, California, U.S.
HDTV 1080i
(downscaled to letterboxed 480i for the SD feeds)
Warner Bros. Discovery (95%)
Harpo Productions (5%)
January 1, 2011
The network is spearheaded by television personality (and namesake) Oprah Winfrey and features entertainment, self-help and lifestyle specials aimed at not only African American audiences but female viewers, in general. As well as featuring various programs surrounding celebrities, self-awareness, therapy, and spirituality, the OWN network also airs reruns of talkshow programming from the Harpo Studios library, such as archived episodes of The Oprah Winfrey Show (1986-2011).
Initially a 50/50 joint venture, Discovery acquired a larger stake in the network in 2017 and again in December 2020, when Discovery increased its ownership in OWN from 73% to 95%. Harpo remains a "significant" minority stakeholder, and Winfrey is contracted with the channel through (at least) 2025.
As of February 2015, OWN is available to approximately 81.9 million pay television households (70.3% of households with television) in the United States.[2]
History[edit]
Development[edit]
After becoming Discovery Communications' new CEO in 2007, David Zaslav found Discovery Health to be underperforming along with its other digital cable networks launched in the last decade, and taking in significantly lower carriage fees in comparison to the company's namesake, Discovery Channel. As a result, he began to explore the possibility of re-launching the channel as a joint venture with another partner. Zaslav's wife was an avid reader of Oprah Winfrey's O magazine (a joint venture with Hearst Corporation); believing that her values could serve as the basis for a cable network, he contacted Winfrey's agents to hold a meeting in April 2007.[3] On January 15, 2008, Discovery Communications officially announced that it had entered into a joint venture with Winfrey's studio Harpo Productions, under which it would re-launch Discovery Health as "OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network", in the second half of 2009.[3][4]
Winfrey would serve as the chairwoman of the channel, which was expected to deal in factual programming oriented towards her personal philosophy of "living your best life"; this would include topics such as health, love, parenting, and spirituality. Discovery provided $100 million in funding, and Harpo provided access to its library and Winfrey's website, Oprah.com.[3] As it was still under contract with CBS Television Distribution through May 2011, her existing syndicated talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show was not expected to air on OWN, but there was a possibility that a spiritual continuation or successor to the program could air on OWN in the future.[3]
Winfrey and her long-time partner Stedman Graham had discussed the idea of forming her own channel as early as 1992. After Winfrey demonstrated discontent over "confrontational" talk shows on television, Graham suggested that she should form an "Oprah Winfrey Network" if she were dissatisfied with the current state of television.[3] OWN was not Winfrey's first cable television venture, having been co-founder of the women's cable network Oxygen. However, her involvement was limited to being an investor and eventually offering it an after-show component, Oprah After the Show, after deciding not to offer her reruns to the network; Winfrey distanced herself from Oxygen when discussing OWN, stressing the importance of actually having influence over programming when participating in such ventures.[3][4]
International[edit]
In Canada, the former Canadian version of Discovery Health, owned by Shaw Media, did not become a Canadian version of OWN, instead shifting to a reality-based format known as Twist TV.[62] Instead, Corus Entertainment agreed to launch a Canadian version of OWN—its existing channel Viva was re-launched as OWN on March 1, 2011.[63] During January and February 2011, selected OWN programming aired on both Viva and the co-owned W Network.[64] Both Shaw Media and Corus share common ownership interests from the J.R. Shaw family, but are considered separate companies.[65] Winfrey revealed to The New York Times that she is in final negotiations to release the channel in Brazil and Argentina.[66]
In April 2013, TLC UK began to air an OWN block.[67][68] The same programming block began airing Discovery Home & Health in Australia on August 4, 2013.[69] It was announced on September 20, 2013, that the OWN Programming Block would begin airing in South Africa on DStv beginning October 17, 2013.[70] OWN Programming Block also debuted in Poland and Russia in August and September; it also debuted on October 28, 2013, in Balkans/Romania/Bulgaria.[71]