Nothing is painin' on her today....

Oprah Winfrey’s power over the media will increase with the addition of her OWN channel in 2009.

It was announced today that the talk show host will be taking over Discover Network’s fledgling Health Channel. The deal between Discovery Networks and Harpo Productions, Winfrey’s company, was announced today. They will each share the network, as well as the ownership of Oprah.com, the current website for all that is Oprah. Winfrey and Discovery are anticipating the OWN network to be geared towards similar themes that are covered on her daily talk show and her magazine, O Magazine. The deal was made after the President and CEO David Zaslav of Discover approached Winfrey to produce her own network, after reading through O Magazine and seeing the future of what the Health Network should be. For the past few years, Oprah has been showcasing health issues, money/debt assistance and wellness programs on her show and has created an army of consultants and experts to help her along the way. The consultants, like Dr. Oz, Rachel Ray, Nate Berkus and Suzie Orman, may follow her to the network, as well as her contributors to her XM Radio station.

Winfrey is positive that this channel will not be a similar situation to the Oxygen Network, which she assisted on the creation and launch of the women’s programming channel. Winfrey removed herself from the board after a few months when the network “did not reflect my voice". Oprah is excited to maintain “editorial control’ of OWN and proceed with “vision” she has for the network. Oprah’s contract for her daily talk show is up in 2011 and she will be announcing this year if she has plans to extend it. If not, she might become more of a “presence” on the OWN network. No word yet on exact programming details or branding opportunity, but this is a huge cache for Discovery Networks, who already have 13 cable channels. This is also interesting timing to announce the partnership since it was just released that Ellen topped Oprah on the most liked television personality list. Oprah has been number one for the past five years, until Ellen took over the spot, bringing her to number two.

(Source)