Discovery ups stake in OWN to 75%

Discovery Communications is paying $70 million to take a majority interest in OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network.

Until now, OWN had been a 50-50 joint venture between the television star and the cable programming giant. The deal, announced Monday, increases Discovery’s ownership stake in the basic cable channel by an additional 24.5% to nearly 75%.

The transaction marks the first time that Winfrey has taken money out of the venture. The channel launched in 2011.

Winfrey, however, will continue to serve as chief executive of the network. As part of the deal, she will work exclusively for OWN in the basic cable space through 2025.

Winfrey built her company Harpo Inc. into a juggernaut through her syndicated daytime talk show that ran more than two decades until May 2011.

“Creating OWN and seeing it flourish, supported by Discovery and a rapidly growing group of the finest storytellers in film and television, is one of my proudest achievements,” Winfrey said in a statement. “I’m thrilled with the network’s success and excited about this next chapter in our partnership.”

Despite early ratings struggles and staff turnover, OWN has become the toprated network for African American women and is available in 80 million homes in the U.S.

Discovery, based in Silver Spring, Md., also owns the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and TLC. With a majority stake in OWN, Discovery can consolidate the channel’s revenue and earnings on its balance sheet.

“This transaction allows Discovery and Oprah to unlock more value from our partnership” and “lets us continue our strong work together to nourish OWN viewers,” Discovery Chief Executive David Zaslav said in a statement.