Despite the retirement of the Oprah Winfrey Show and mama Oprah’s decision to stick with television for pretty much the rest of her life and beyond by creating a network called the “Oprah Winfrey Network,” she’s taking up yet another role–this time behind the scenes. Oprah will become the chief executive officer and chief creative officer of her network OWN.
“I am ready to dedicate my full creative energy and focus as the full-time CEO of OWN,” Winfrey said according to BET.com.
It’s only right that she does. After all, it is her name and creation. We’re still amazed by the fact that she has her “own” network. And what a play on words. First it was HARPO Studios (Oprah’s name spelled backwards), now OWN. Clever.
Oprah takes on the new position after former OWN CEO, Christina Norman, left her position two months ago. Erik Logan and Sheri Salata, current presidents of Harpo Studios, will also take on new roles within Orpah’s world and become the presidents of OWN. They’ll work together with Discovery Communications Chief Operating Officer Peter Liguori, inteim CEO.
OWN has been struggling with ratings since its launch in January 2011 and hopes to strengthen its purpose and programming mission. Future production at Harpo Studios will be directed to OWN.
“By aligning the mission, talent and leadership of Erik, Sheri, the OWN team, the Harpo team, along with expertise of David Zaslav, Peter and all of Discovery behind us, we can unleash the full potential of the network,” said Winfrey. —Aliya Faust
Related: Kid Fury’s Blog: Bye Bye, Oprah…