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NEWS > BUSINESS > WITH TROUBLE BREWING, OPRAH NOW GETS WHY EVERYONE DOESN’T START TV NETWORKS
WITH TROUBLE BREWING, OPRAH NOW GETS WHY EVERYONE DOESN’T START TV NETWORKS
October 9 2011
Los Angeles, CA – “It's a lot harder than I ever imagined,” Oprah Winfrey said recently during a webcast. Those aren’t words people are used to hearing out Winfrey’s mouth but with plummeting ratings and money starting to bleed, they most likely reflect exactly the position she is in with her television network.
Winfrey, of course, has always been open with her audience. That is in fact exactly what has made her such a success and so the admission is not really all that shocking, what is shocking is that it was necessary at all. After all, if anyone was going to be able to launch a TV network successfully it would have to be Oprah. If there was one medium where she could be successful, it was television. That hasn’t happened though.
Own is dying, losing a third of its audience since launch, putting pressure on Winfrey to pull things out of the fire. To that end, Winfrey has invested more money in advertising and reluctantly agreed to appear on more programs. Whether or not those measure work is something still to be determined, but one thing has become abundantly clear to Winfrey; she now understands why everyone just doesn’t start their own TV networks.
“O doesn’t like failure, not at all, and she isn’t used to it and so this is really tough. She had really high hopes for the network and still does but it is so much harder than she expected it would be. It’s putting a lot of pressure on her, far more than she imagined it would,” said an insider for Harpo Productions, Winfrey’s company. “She now gets why everyone was sceptical at the beginning and it is certainly humbling. When the idea came to her she couldn’t quite figure out why she hadn’t done it before and why more people didn’t do it, start up a TV network, but now she knows. She frankly won’t be advising her audience to pursue this business anymore.”
Winfrey had planned, in the nascent days of the network, to reward fans with their own TV network but has apparently decided to nix that idea with all the trouble she has had.
“She really did feel that if she could do it, anyone could do it. She’s always felt that way about her career but she’s starting to see now the real challenges involved and that has made her understand why everyone just doesn’t start their own stations, it’s tough,” continued the insider. “She really doesn’t recommend this to anyone else. This is not one of her favourite things, not anymore. Most people should just stay out.”
The insider insists Oprah’s new attitude towards network ownership has nothing to do with competition.
“O has never faced a bigger challenge than this and it has really put her in her place, a place she is not comfortable in. She doesn’t want her fans to be in that place, they deserve better than that,” continued the insider. “We will have to wait and see where things go. She’s dedicated of course but she’s also realistic. If nothing else, at least she can serve as a warning to others to not start up their own television network and that alone would make it worth the effort.”
Winfrey has also decided to end her TV network club which followed in the tradition of her book club.
William Ashford, Business Correspondent
NEWS > BUSINESS > WITH TROUBLE BREWING, OPRAH NOW GETS WHY EVERYONE DOESN’T START TV NETWORKS
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