LOS ANGELES — Oprah Winfrey has decided that if you want to get the job done, you’d better do it yourself.
The former daytime talk-show queen has named herself
chief executive and chief creative officer of OWN, the cable network she
launched in partnership with Discovery Communications. The announcement
was made early Wednesday.
The move comes just over two months after Christina
Norman was forced out as CEO of OWN in a management shake-up. Norman,
who exited only four months after the channel made its debut, was OWN’s
third head since its formation was announced in 2008.
“I am ready to dedicate my full creative energy and focus as the full-time CEO of OWN,” Winfrey said in a statement.
Since Norman left, Peter Liguori, the chief operating
officer of Discovery Communications and a former top executive at Fox
Broadcasting, had been serving as interim CEO.
Also taking top positions at OWN are two of Winfrey’s
trusted lieutenants. Erik Logan and Sheri Salata, presidents of Harpo
Studios, Winfrey’s production company, will serve as presidents of OWN.
“The announcement of Oprah, Erik and Sheri completes
the plan for developing a strategic creative track and finding the right
management team to execute on that plan going forward,” Liguori said.
Winfrey’s channel, which went live in January, has
struggled to build ratings despite hundreds of millions of dollars spent
on programming and promotion. Winfrey recently acknowledged that she
was not as focused on OWN as she should have been because it was
launched while her daytime talk show was wrapping up its final season.
———
(c) 2011, Los Angeles Times.
Visit the Los Angeles Times on the Internet at http://www.latimes.com/.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
