A day after setting an end date to her landmark syndicated daytime show, Oprah Winfrey set a new launch target for the new cable channel she’s launching in partnership with Discovery Communications: January 2011.
It’s only the latest new launch date for the Oprah Winfrey Network, which was announced early last year, originally with an end-of-2009 target. While presenting the channel to advertisers at a full-fledged upfront meeting in New York last spring, OWN officials said the launch would occur sometime in 2010.
With “The Oprah Winfrey Show” winding down in September 2011, Winfrey will have almost a full season to promote her new cable network on her old talk show. When it does premiere, it will do so with 80 million subscribers, occupying the cable space currently taken by Discovery Health.
“Oprah has been nourishing people through her television show for nearly 25 years, a legacy that has touched millions the world over,” said Christina Norman, CEO of the OWN, in a statement. “She is the life force behind OWN and will be guiding the effort for this completely new 24-hour television experience premiering in January 2011.”
On Friday, Winfrey is set address her decision to end “The Oprah Winfrey Show” during a studio taping of the program.
