by Patricia Sellers
Oprah Winfrey arrived on cable this weekend at long last. And I do mean long.
When I interviewed Oprah in her Chicago office a few months ago, she pulled a piece of paper out of her desk drawer. It was a note, scrawled in pencil, that Stedman Graham, her boyfriend, wrote to her when they were on vacation together in April 1992. Oprah had never shared the note with the media, and she declined to let me share the full content with you. (Yes, I asked). But as we sat there and talked about the origin of OWN, she let me read the letter and scrawl my own notes. So, here is at least part of what Stedman Graham wrote to Oprah that important day nearly 19 years ago:
"How does Oprah position herself in the next decade? OWN. That's right. OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network....This is God's way and Oprah's vision..."
Granted, people like you and I don't plot media empires on our vacations. Then again, we are not Oprah. Stedman's idea inspired her, and at the bottom of that piece of paper, she wrote that the goal of OWN "will be to create mindful rather than mindless programming."
Then she sat on the idea for 15 years. It took another passionate persuader, Discovery Communication (DISCA) CEO David Zaslav, to come along in the spring of 2007 and offer Oprah the proper incentive to act on her dream.
In "Oprah's Next Act," my recent Fortune cover story, Oprah talks about agreeing to co-create a cable TV network with Zaslav ("I don't want your money," he told her. "I want you.") and then feeling so terrified of her commitment that she practically backed out of the venture.
But she didn't. And finally, we have OWN, which isn't as easy to find as The Oprah Winfrey Show, which will stay on broadcast TV until this coming September. (OWN, which replaced Discovery Health across the U.S., is Channel 115 on Time Warner Cable in Manhattan and Channel 219 in Los Angeles.) The first TV network built around one human being, it is the grandest experiment yet in the personalization of media and Oprah's biggest risk in her career.
She admits that. So, do you think Oprah will succeed?
by Patricia Sellers
"Oprah's Next Act," is the cover of the new issue of Fortune. Here you'll find the scoop -- the full-blown personal drama and trauma -- around OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, the cable TV channel that she's three months away from launching.
Two weeks ago, in her Chicago office, Oprah told me about her deep trepidation in taking on what will be the biggest risk of her professional life. MORE
Patricia Sellers - Sep 30, 2010 12:58 PM ET
Long live Oprah Winfrey. Her TV syndication contract expires in 2011, but that doesn't mean she'll go off the air then. Oprah is right now busy preparing to launch her own TV network -- one of the more anticipated media projects of the year. (It's supposed to launch in late '09 or early next year.)
It's also one of the more secretive. But watch this space, and you'll learn a bit MORE
Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Jan 5, 2009 1:38 PM ET
High-placed media-industry sources tell me that Susan Lyne has been in touch with Oprah and her folks about running OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network. Lyne, who quit the CEO post at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSO) last week, won't comment. Nor will Oprah. But the cable startup—a joint venture of Oprah's Harpo Inc. and Discovery Communications that's due to launch in September 2009— would be a natural fit for Lyne, MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jun 18, 2008 2:59 PM ET
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Pattie Sellers has written some of Fortune's most talked-about cover stories, including "Oprah's Next Act," "Can Meg Whitman Save California?" "The $100 Billion Woman" (Melinda Gates), "MySpace Cowboys," Martha Stewart ("I cannot be destroyed"), Ted Turner ("Gone with the Wind") and Oprah Winfrey ("Oprah Inc."). Since its launch in 1998, Pattie has helped oversee Fortune's "Most Powerful Women" cover package.
A specialist at dissecting larger-than-life personalities, she has also profiled former U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Morgan Stanley chairman John Mack, and countless CEOs.
Pattie co-chairs the annual Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, the preeminent gathering of women leaders in business, philanthropy, government, academia, and the arts. She started at Fortune in 1984, covering the big brand companies.
In Pattie's blog, Postcards, she provides insight into the lives of super-achievers through commentary, career advice, and Guest Posts by CEOs and other leaders.
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