Oprah Winfrey Network

OWN, or the Oprah Winfrey Network, is an American television network that started on January 1, 2011. It replaced the Discovery Health Channel, which later merged with FitTV to become Discovery Life. OWN is a joint venture between Warner Bros. Discovery and Harpo Productions, founded by the famous television personality Oprah Winfrey.

The network focuses on lifestyle shows for a female audience, with topics about improving life, relationships, and spirituality. It especially aims to reach African Americans. Over time, Discovery increased its ownership of OWN, holding 95% by December 2020, while Harpo still keeps a smaller share, and Oprah Winfrey continues to work with the channel.

OWN competes with other networks that also target African Americans, such as the BET Media Group's BET channel and Bounce TV from the E. W. Scripps Company. As of February 2015, OWN reached about 81.9 million households in the United States that had pay television.

History

Development

In 2007, David Zaslav, the new CEO of Discovery Communications, noticed that the Discovery Health channel was not doing well. He wanted to partner with Oprah Winfrey to create a new channel. In January 2008, Discovery and Harpo Productions announced a joint venture to relaunch Discovery Health as "OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network" by late 2009.

Oprah would lead the channel, focusing on topics like health, love, parenting, and spirituality. Discovery invested $100 million, and Harpo provided access to its library and Oprah’s website, Oprah.com. At the time, Oprah’s talk show could not air on OWN because of existing contracts, but there were plans for future shows.

Delays and launch

The launch of OWN was delayed from 2009 to January 1, 2011. Lisa Erspamer, a Harpo executive, became the chief creative officer of OWN in November 2009. Later that month, Oprah announced that her talk show would end in 2011 after its 25th season. With the end of her talk show, Oprah’s commitments changed, and she agreed to appear in at least 70 hours of programming per year on OWN.

OWN officially launched on January 1, 2011. Discovery Health’s programming merged into FitTV, which later became Discovery Fit & Health and then Discovery Life.

Early struggles, targeting African Americans

In its first year, OWN had trouble attracting viewers. Most shows had low ratings except for “Our America with Lisa Ling” and “Season 25: Oprah Behind The Stages.” In May 2011, Christina Norman left as CEO, and Peter Liguori took over temporarily. By July, Oprah became CEO and named Sheri Salata as co-president.

In October 2011, “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s” became a hit, especially among African American audiences. This led OWN to focus more on this demographic. “Super Soul Sunday” also premiered in October 2011, offering diverse perspectives on life today.

“The Rosie Show,” hosted by Rosie O’Donnell, premiered in October 2011 but had low ratings and was cancelled in March 2012.

Tyler Perry development deal, expansion into scripted programming

In October 2012, OWN announced a deal with Tyler Perry to create scripted shows. In May 2013, Perry’s first two shows, the soap opera “The Haves and the Have Nots” and the sitcom “Love Thy Neighbor,” premiered. “The Haves and the Have Nots” became OWN’s highest-rated show at the time.

By July 2013, OWN was making a profit. In May 2016, “Greenleaf” and “Queen Sugar” premiered and became very popular. In July 2017, Tyler Perry ended his partnership with OWN, but his shows continued to air on the network.

OWN continued to grow, focusing on diverse stories and African American experiences. In June 2020, Oprah hosted a special discussing important social issues. In December 2020, Discovery increased its ownership in OWN. In May 2025, OWN was removed from some TV lineups.

Programming

Main article: List of programs broadcast by Oprah Winfrey Network

As of 2025, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) showed many types of shows, mostly about everyday life. You could watch talks and court shows like Dr. Phil, Hot Bench, and Judge Mathis. It also showed other lifestyle shows from Warner Bros. Discovery channels.

In 2012, OWN began showing made-up stories, or scripted shows. It worked with Tyler Perry to start shows like The Haves and the Have Nots and Love Thy Neighbor. Later, it showed Queen Sugar, a story about a family, and Greenleaf, about a big church family in Memphis, Tennessee. In 2026, OWN started a new show called Maxxed Out, where host Leah Collins helps families manage their money better.

International

In Canada, a different channel called Twist TV took the place of Discovery Health instead of becoming OWN. However, another company called Corus Entertainment launched a Canadian version of OWN on March 1, 2011, using their existing channel Viva. Unfortunately, this Canadian OWN channel closed on September 1, 2024, because Corus lost the rights to show many shows. In 2025, a new company called Rogers Sports and Media got the rights and moved OWN's content to their service called Citytv+.

OWN also showed its programs in other countries. In the United Kingdom, TLC UK started showing some OWN shows in April 2013. Australia began showing them on Discovery Home & Health in August 2013. South Africa started in October 2013, and Poland, Russia, and some Balkan countries began showing OWN programs in late 2013 as well. Oprah Winfrey had plans to bring OWN to Brazil and Argentina in 2011.