NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oprah Winfrey and Discovery Communications pushed Christina Norman as CEO of his own, Oprah Winfrey network, after a difficult for five cable network - months old.
Discovery Chief Operating Officer Peter Ligouri will take over on an interim basis, in addition to his current role of Norman.
OWN, who launched the United States January 1, struggled to gain ratings in its first five months.
In a memo to staff Friday, Winfrey thanked Norman for his work hard in the OWN obtaining on air but said that the new system has much to do.
"Given what we have to do, the Commission own felt it was necessary that we have another type of leadership in place for the next phase of growth of his own," Winfrey said in the memo, of which a copy was obtained by Reuters.
OWN, a joint venture between discovery and Winfrey production company, offers largely female programming oriented with a combination of lifestyle, advice and entertainment edifying.
Winfrey, considered the most influential women on the American television should devote more energy to OWN in the coming months after the last original episode of the syndicated TV popular show, "The Oprah Winfrey Show," airs on ABC on May 25.
Discovery CEO David Zaslav said on a conference call last month that the OWN ratings were below our expectations."
"We've been digging." We focus on what does the audience want from OWN. We are fully attached to the mark. ?
Discovery said it probably will be more investment in OWN more than 215 million dollars he used to fund the joint venture to the first quarter.
Executives have said additional investment will depend on the progress of the ratings through the next several quarters.
Ligouri, speaking the end of last month, said that discovery to produce approximately 400 hours of original programming for first time until the end of the year.
The output of Norman, a former leader of MTV, has caused speculation that discovery could turn to another former leader of MTV, Judy McGrath, some 24 hours after she resigned as CEO of MTV Networks.
(Reporting by Yinka Adegoke, editing by Gerald e. McCormick, Dave Zimmerman and Ted Kerr)
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