The Oprah Winfrey Network, the 50/50 joint venture between Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Inc. and Discovery Communications, announced last week it had secured a significant commitment from Procter & Gamble, the world's largest advertiser. The agreement, which includes the purchase of time and integration into programming, is unprecedented in that Winfrey's network (OWN for short) will not be on the air until January 2011, does not yet have a full programming lineup and has no audience and therefore no basis for ratings, reach or demographics.
