Oprah Winfrey's OWN Suffers Huge Losses
The bad news just won't stop for Oprah Winfrey and her OWN network. After months of reports of low ratings, deep staff cuts and burned bridges with her on-air talent, Bloomberg Businessweek analysts are estimating OWN's losses to be approaching $330 million.
An analyst told the magazine that it was the most "successful failure in television today." Winfrey herself famously told CBS News earlier this year, "If I were writing a book about it, I might call the book 101 Mistakes."
The one silver lining is that OWN has actually seen small increases in ratings lately. Most of the credit goes to Oprah's Next Chapter, the new show that has seen Winfrey nab major exclusive interviews, like her sit-down with Whitney Houston's family and home tour with Lady Gaga. OWN is also expected to see a revenue boost once cash from cable operators comes through.
Despite some recent successes, OWN still has a long way to go before it hits the black, and many media analysts still have the network on a death watch. We'll just have to stay tuned (pun intended) to see if Winfrey's experiment survives.
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(Photo: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)