Oprah Winfrey has a steep financial hill to climb in the struggle to keep her cable channel afloat. Bloomberg Businessweek reported last week that OWN may have lost a whopping $330 million since it began in 2008. An analyst told the magazine that it was the most “successful failure in television today.”
The report follows a steady stream of setbacks for Winfrey, including low ratings, staff firings and the colossal mishap called “The Rosie Show.” “If I were writing a book about it, I might call the book ’101 Mistakes,’” Oprah told CBS’s “Early Show” in April. While Oprah does not have a personal financial stake in the company, it is still undoubtedly a black eye for her.
However, in some good news for the network, the Wall Street Journal reported today that ratings for the network have ticked up recently. Part of that is due to “Oprah’s Next Chapter,” the new show that has seen Oprah nab major exclusives, like her sit-down with Whitney Houston’s family.
Moreover, the network will get millions of dollars in new revenues from cable operators.
