OWN shakeup tests Oprah, Discovery relationship

LOS ANGELES Oprah Winfrey is used to running the show, whether it was her hit daytime TV program or the fledgling cable channel named for her and which she rules as chairman and chief executive.

But this weeks Oprah Winfrey Network shakeup, which included a 20 percent staff layoff, thrusts her into a new dynamic: power-sharing with a top executive from the company thats bankrolled OWN with $300 million-plus.

Its a crucial moment for the media queen, who made OWN her next big move after The Oprah Winfrey Show, and for OWN itself: Can Winfrey work as an effective corporate teammate with partner Discovery Communications to turn the struggling channel around?

Theres another bedrock question: Does a big enough audience exist for the earnest, uplifting fare on Winfreys OWN, so antithetical to the blowsy charms of Jersey Shore, Keeping Up With the Kardashians and much else thats popular on cable TV?

As important as control might be to Winfrey, shes also a savvy businesswoman and has been willing to take advice before and not just from Dr. Oz, Dr. Phil or her other TV health and wealth proteges. Her syndicated talk shows distributor made sure she stayed on track.

In the past, when she was becoming too New Age, or becoming too distant, which can come with celebrity and wealth, the folks at King World would do a survey and pass the results to her, said Bill Carroll, an expert in the syndication market for media consulting firm Katz Media.

As a smart broadcaster, Winfrey heard the public and adjusted to what they were saying, Carroll said.

Winfrey started off slowly with OWN, busy wrapping her talk shows 25-year run last fall with much hoopla. She began exerting more control after leaving daytime, and as part of the executive turnover that began five months after OWNs January 2011 debut to disappointing ratings.

Christina Norman, who was dismissed as CEO in May 2011, had expressed hope that, within its first year, OWN would reach a! n averag e of about 400,000 viewers in prime-time among women ages 25-to-54. That would have been a doubling of the prime-time audience in that demo for Discovery Health, the channel OWN replaced.

OWN viewership has increased

For the year to date, OWN is averaging 318,000 total viewers in prime-time, a 9 percent increase over the same period last year.

It was philosophy, not numbers, that Winfrey focused on at the channels launch. She was insistent that OWN would represent her talk shows message of self-empowerment writ large across an entire channel.

What if I could take every hero who inspired me, every lesson that motivated me, every opportunity that was ever given to me and give it to you, Winfrey said in a promotional spot for OWN that showed her beaming against a computer-generated blue sky dotted by soaring balloons and puffy clouds.

Worthy, but is that entertainment? The high-water mark for OWN so far was the 3.5 million viewers for Winfreys exclusive interview with Bobbi Kristina Brown, Whitney Houstons daughter, which aired earlier this month. The interview, while sensitively done, spun off the tabloid-tragic end to Houstons checkered life.

(It was also a reminder of the forum that Winfreys talk show once gave celebrities who wanted to explain themselves. Former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiners agonized, post-Oprah speeches about lewd texts and photos were no substitute for possible absolution by Winfrey.)

For viewer Mamie Kwayie of Chicago, OWNs selling point is programs like Oprahs Master Class.

These shows work because theyre infused with Ms. Winfreys core platform for meaningful messages and impactful storytelling, she said in an email.

Such programs strike others as virtuous but dull, among them Robert Thompson, director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University.

You have to admire Oprah for this, but it doesnt seem shes willing to put the kinds of shows on that the channel really needs, Thompson sa! id. What OWN needs is Jersey Shore. What OWN needs is Real Housewives, a splashy program that everyone watches and talks about, that may have questionable elements.

It seems the kind of spectacular reality show that OWN needs is one that seems to be outside the definition of what OWN will accept, he said.

OWN can find a middle ground, countered Discovery spokesman David Leavy.

Theres a lot of white space between Jersey Shore and Housewives. Good programming doesnt need to be as salacious as that, he said, citing Undercover Boss as an example.

Let Oprah be Oprah, said one viewer, Charles W. Rawls III, a Winfrey admirer and a realist.

I want programming that will share what she stands for. But that may not be what the masses want and advertisers are willing to pay for, said Rawls, a marketing manager in Philadelphia.

New territory

For a successful woman, one who thinks and lives big, Winfrey has entered new territory.

The overhaul announced this week, including the layoffs of 30 staffers intended to reduce redundancies between Discovery and its partner in OWN, Winfreys Harpo Inc., brought Neal Kirsch, chief financial officer of Discoverys U.S. networks, to OWN as chief operating officer and CFO.

(OWN launched with a 150-person staff double that of the typical cable channel, another invitation to trim.)

In January, Discovery Fit & Health executive Rita Mullen was brought in on an interim basis to work on programming and development after the departure of Lisa Erspamer from OWN.

Their work is cut out for them.

Discoverys annual report filed in February said there will be significant additional funding to OWN that will exceed its earnings over the next two years. That will mean adding to the $312 million Discovery has given the venture so far, the report said. Discovery CEO David Zaslav told analysts he expects the channel to become a significant asset, and cited growth in revenue, including adv! ertising .