HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Oprah Winfrey is about to expand her media empire with a new television network.
On Tuesday, Winfrey and Discovery Communications announced that they would jointly create OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network, a cable television channel that will make its debut in 2009 on what is now the Discovery Health Channel. Discovery Health is currently available in more than 70 million homes.
Ownership and advertising revenue will be split evenly between Winfrey and Discovery, according to Discovery chief executive David M. Zaslav. Winfrey will be the new company's chairman.
OWN, like Winfrey's magazine, will aim to "entertain and inspire" viewers and Web users, Zaslav said.
The new channel will not carry Winfrey's top-rated syndicated daytime talk show "The Oprah Winfrey Show" initially. However, Winfrey said that she had the option to end that show in 2010 or 2011 and could move the talk show to the new channel then.
"Eventually that will happen, we hope," Winfrey disclosed during a conference call with reporters on Tuesday.
Winfrey will also contribute her Oprah.com Web site, which averages about 6 million unique visitors per month, to the company.
The venture is not Winfrey's first foray into television programming. In 1998, she was an initial investor in the Oxygen cable channel, only to cut ties from the company fairly quickly.
When asked about the difference between Oxygen, which was sold to NBC in October for $925 million, and the latest venture, Winfrey said Oxygen "did not reflect my voice."
"I was not a participant in the development of the channel," she added. "That's why after a couple of board meetings I took myself off the board."
With the Oprah Winfrey Network, "I will have editorial control," she continued. "I have a vision for what we want to accomplish with this network."
In addition to continuing her syndicated talk show, Winfrey said she would also continue to produce programming for other outlets. She already has a new reality show, "Oprah's Big Give," which is scheduled to begin on ABC in March.
The 53-year-old Winfrey's current media empire already includes a television production company, radio show and magazine, among other ventures.
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