OWN special to focus on Winfrey’s first year as CEO

July 3, 2012 by Adam Benzine

Joint venture U.S. net OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network is turning the cameras inwards on itself, with a two-part special looking at Winfrey’s efforts to overcome the “obstacles she’s faced” in her first year as CEO.

Oprah Builds a Network, which is billed as “a candid look at Oprah’s first year as CEO of OWN,” will air on Sunday July 8 and 15 at 9 p.m. EST. The exec producer is Erica Forstadt.

“With the tremendous amount of fascination and interest surrounding OWN, we wanted this special to open the doors and go behind the scenes of key moments of this journey building the network,” said OWN president Sheri Salata.

The network, a joint venture between Discovery Communications and Harpo Productions, has experienced a tumultuous amount of executive turnover in the months leading up to and following its launch in January 2011, including the surprise departure of Lisa Erspamer in January this year.

Ratings have also proven problematic, although the network insists recent quarters have seen dramatic improvement.

The first part of the two-part special promises to see Winfrey discuss “the first year of her network launch, the reason why she decided to make herself CEO and her personal feelings about the much-publicized Nielsen misstep,” according to OWN, while part two will feature “her candid comments on where the network is today.”

Check out a preview of the special below:

Tags: Discovery Communications, Harpo Studios, Lisa Erspamer, Oprah Builds a Network, Oprah Winfrey, OWN, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network