The Oprah Winfrey Network seems to have everything needed to succeed: some of the best creative minds in the business, strong financial backing, a loyal audience and enthusiastic advertisers eager to buy commercial time.
But more than 20 months after the announcement that Winfrey was teaming with Discovery Communications to create a cable channel that celebrates her ethos, “Living your best life,” not much has happened — except for a revolving door of executives.
Three top programmers abruptly left the L.A.-based network in recent months, and development spending has been cut. OWN was supposed to have launched by now, but its debut has been pushed back to mid-2010.
Executives declined to provide a new target date.
“It’s kind of like the Death Star over there — not a lot is coming out,” said Brent Poer, managing director of the West Coast offices of the ad-buying firm MediaVest. “This is a signal that they are trying to decide who they are.”
Channel managers describe the fits and starts as growing pains of a new venture.
In an interview, OWN chief executive Christina Norman said her team had spent the last few months examining their strategy, the mix of programs in development and the marketing messages. Norman acknowledged that she reined in spending at the channel, but said it simply made sense to tamp down the expenditures until closer to the launch. One person said she put a ban on frequent cake splurges.
In late July, the management group — including Winfrey, who is chairman of OWN; Discovery boss David Zaslav; consultant Tom Freston; Norman; and the newly hired programmer, Jamila Hunter — spent an intense day at OWN’s new offices on Wilshire Boulevard making “a deep dive” into the channel’s DNA.
“We talked a lot about what we are trying to create here, and how do we wrestle it to the ground,” Norman said. “We started to see a big thread emerge and decided that we should be telling the stories of life, the things that matter to us — the love stories, the work stories and all the things that make up real life.”
The channel plans to diversify beyond reality shows by acquiring documentaries. And it still is trying to figure out how to best involve Winfrey, especially after she is expected to end her syndicated daytime show in May 2011.
“We are going to do a ton of specials and find unique ways for Oprah to be involved,” Norman said.
She added that this fall there would be announcements about programs and a channel launch date.
MediaVest’s Poer said he understood why the channel was taking its time.
“It doesn’t make sense to rush it,” Poer said. “And long term, this is a smarter play. The worst thing that could happen would be to show everyone the baby, and then everyone says, ‘Oooh, the baby’s ugly.’ What they are simply saying is, ‘Let’s don’t give birth yet.’ “
