The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), namesake of the popular talk show host, had a rocky first year. But according to the Associated Press, Oprah herself isn’t about to give up the fight.
“Yes, some mistakes were made,” Winfrey acknowledged. “Who hasn’t made mistakes? The real beauty is you can say, ‘I learned from that.’ I don’t really worry about failure. I worry about, ‘Did I do all I could do?’”
Despite a $250 million investment from Discovery Communications, OWN has struggled to build on the popularity of its founder and gain a wide audience. Corporate missteps and even an executive turnover have haunted the network since its inception just one year ago.
But the AP reported that OWN wants to turn around its fortunes this year, primarily through the promotion of appearance by Oprah herself. “Oprah’s Next Chapter,” a new weekly series that premiered Sunday, will see the former talk show queen continue to interview global figures after her retirement from basic cable.
Winfrey said that one year’s disappointing performance is not enough to have her packing her bags.
“Somebody was talking to me in that kind of saddened, ‘How are you?’ tone and I was thinking, ‘I’m fine,’” Winfrey told the AP. “I realized the reason people have this tone is they’re reading all the press [about OWN], so you see me and wonder if I can still walk…I am a determined and committed woman. I don’t give up. I’m just getting started.”
The AP pointed to OWN’s programming light, and noticeably Oprah-less, lineup as part of the reason for the network’s disappointing debut. OWN averaged about 136,000 viewers a day, the news agency said.
