Oprah's Takeover Stalled

Has the proposed network become Oprah’s Waterloo? From The LA Times: Suggested Reading A Peek Inside The Root 100 Party’s Swag Bag The Pros and Cons For Your Favorite Black Shows When Netflix Buys Warner Bros. Discovery Peek Inside The Childhood Home Of Nina Simone Video will return here when scrolled back into view Tramell…

Has the proposed network become Oprah’s Waterloo? From The LA Times:

Video will return here when scrolled back into view
A Jogger had no idea What or Who Hit Her… Until Police Showed Her

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 Inc. 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 Los Angeles-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.”

Get the full scoop here.

So if Oprah is building a Death Star, that makes her…

Straight From The Root

Sign up for our free daily newsletter.