1/30/2009

in

Former president of MTV will oversee new network

Stephanie DeLuca

The Oprah Winfrey Network decided to hire longtime marketer, Christina Norman, Thursday as chief executive.  
  
Prior to this new found career, she first ran VH1 and then moved her way up to Viacom Inc.'s MTV cable empire where she spent 17 years as MTV president, according to the Los Angeles Times.  
  
As the chief executive of the Oprah Winfrey Network, also known as OWN, Norman, 45, will oversee the business and programming functions for the TV channel and Internet site.  
  
The Los Angeles Times reported Norman was hesitant about taking the new position, saying that "the timing wasn't right". However, last Friday she accepted the position.  
  
"It's an incredible opportunity and a great time to be starting a new network when so much is changing," said Norman.  
  
A year ago Winfrey and Discover Communications decided to join forces. A launch date has yet to be released for OWN, although there are talks for the network to set off in early 2010. According to the Los Angeles Times, Winfrey will continue with her daily talk show host as well as giving her audience gifts of her "favorite thing" through May 2011.  
  
Channel executives are expected to give a sneak peek to advertisers of their programming plans in March.  
  
"As with any new cable network launch, it's always a challenge to get advertisers to sign on," said Chris Neel, director of national broadcast for ad firm Initiative. "Certainly Oprah is a known quantity so that will help them, but the network won't have Oprah 24/7."  
  
Advertisers are cutting back on spending habits which may cause an obstacle for OWN. However, Neel said OWN will be available to 70 million homes at launch, more than most start-up channels.  
  
Norman said, "We need to have a spirit of innovation, and that will help us. We've seen that people who take risks in times like these are the ones who are rewarded."