Oprah Winfrey made it clear that once her syndicated show finished, she was fully committed to ensuring that her OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network moves beyond its fits and starts and becomes a success. "I wouldn't bet against me -- I just wouldn't," she said at the national cable convention.
Now the bets are fully on her, and she is far from a dilettante lending her name. Winfrey, the chairman of the network, will become CEO and chief creative officer of OWN this fall.
The move is a surprise, since even as Winfrey said she was eager to take on a more active role at the network, an official hands-on executive role was not expected.
Winfrey is also bringing top deputies from her thriving Harpo Studios along as OWN co-presidents. Erik Logan and Sheri Salata will take those roles at OWN immediately. All Harpo-developed content going forward will be offered exclusively to OWN and Logan and Salata will oversee upcoming shows, such as "Rosie" and "In the Bedroom with Dr. Laura Berman," and two shows featuring Winfrey.
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The pair will work with Discovery Communications COO Peter Liguori, who has been deputized to resuscitate the network as its interim CEO. He succeeded Chrstina Norman.
Discovery and Harpo are 50/50 partners on the network and Oprah.com.
"I am ready to dedicate my full creative energy and focus as the full-time CEO of OWN," Winfrey stated. "By aligning the mission, talent and leadership of Erik, Sheri, the OWN team, the Harpo team, along with expertise of David Zaslav (Discovery CEO), Peter and all of Discovery behind us, we can unleash the full potential of the network."
Harpo will remain in Chicago; OWN is located in Los Angeles -- and its 300 employees will produce the new shows and take nearly 4,900 episodes of Oprah's syndicated show and repurpose them for OWN.