Oprah gets her own TV network

[Insanecowposse]

updated 3:43 p.m. ET, Tues., Jan. 15, 2008
NEW YORK - Oprah Winfrey is getting her own TV network.

OWN — for Oprah Winfrey Network — will debut next year in nearly 70 million homes with cable and satellite, part of a deal announced Tuesday with Discovery Communications. It will replace the Discovery Health network.

The announcement builds a media empire that already includes the top-rated TV talk show, a magazine, a satellite radio network, a Web site and TV movies made under her banner.

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“This is an evolution of what I’ve been able to do every day,” Winfrey said. “I will now have the opportunity to do this 24 hours a day on a platform that goes on forever.”

She will be chairwoman of the network, owned 50-50 by Discovery and her company, Harpo Productions Inc. In return for taking over a network already operated by Discovery, Winfrey gives half ownership of the Oprah.com Web site.