Oprah to OWN the airwaves with new channel

Talk show host and Amercian Black businesswoman Oprah Winfrey has launched her own television network called Oprah Winfrey Network or OWN for short. The new channel started broadcasting at noon on the 1st of January and aims to be a network without "mean-spirited" programming according to Winfrey.

OWN is the first US cable network to be linked so directly to the public persona of it's creator. It's considered a brave venture as Winfrey has built up a considerable television audience during in her 25 years of talk show on ABC and it's assumed the audience will move with her to the new network. Reviews have so far been favourable with the New York Times decribing OWN's positive programming as “a place where cynicism takes a holiday and mockery hasn’t yet been invented”.

The network was number three in the ratings for women aged 25 to 54 in the 8 – 9 pm timeslot, with well over a million viewers, which is strong for a Saturday night and given that it was New Year’s Day. The network is available in 67% of American homes, and takes over the space made available by Discovery Health.

Leon Green