TV legend Oprah Winfrey launches her own channel

Oprah Winfrey, the queen of chat turned media mogul, is preparing to reinvent her empire by launching her own cable TV network.

At 56, Oprah Winfrey seemed to be heading into her "la-di-da years" (her term for semi-retirement). But in 2011 the queen of chat is preparing to reinvent her empire by launching her own cable TV network: a lifestyle channel called the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). It is "the scariest thing" she has ever done.

Given the risks (see below), Winfrey's jitters are understandable, says Fortune. Still, she seems to have negotiated a great deal. Neither Oprah currently worth around $2.7bn nor her private holding company, Harpo Inc, has contributed a cent to the joint venture with Discovery. Yet she owns 50% of the equity and retains full editorial control over the channel's output.

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