Oprah on OWN on DStv: 'It's to bring something positive. Our goal is to evolve. What you see at launch isn't what it will be in a year.'

Oprah Winfrey says the aim and goal of the brand-new Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) programming block which South African and African viewers can now see on Thursdays and Sundays on the refreshed TLC Entertainment (DStv 172) on MultiChoice's DStv is "to bring something positive" to viewers.

The media mogul and talk show host who jetted in to South Africa spoke at VIP reception and official launch function of TLC Entertainment and OWN in South Africa said "our goal is to constantly evolve".

"What you see at our launch isn't what it will be in a year and isn't what it will be in two or three years because we're constantly evolving and moving and responding to what the viewers tell us they want to see and believe is the heart of the brand of OWN. I really look forward to this next step of this fantastic journey together," said Oprah Winfrey.

"I created this network because I thought that for the 25 years of The Oprah Winfrey Show - and it was a wonderful and one of the most fabulous life experiences anyone can ask for to be part of that platform and that era - but I wanted to be able to have other forms of expressions and to connect to audiences in a different way."

"Specifically what we do every week on Super Soul Sunday is that we talk to the world's thought-leaders on that show about what really matters and why we're here and what it means to be human and our humanity towards each other."

"The brand is about hope and the brand is about opening your heart space, people - men if they want to - but mostly women - although I'm happy to have any men come along who want their heart space opened," said Oprah Winfrey.

"What is amazing is that the very same thing that I tried to say for the 25 years of The Oprah Winfrey Show is the very same thing that we say in O The Oprah Magazine every month, which is the very same thing that we will be saying on OWN."

"Even when I'm talking with celebrities who you may not feel is the world's best spiritual teachers, I'm always looking for the insight which allows the viewer to see themselves; allows them to see that 'Oh, you made that mistake, maybe I was on the wrong path too'. It's all to let people know that we're more alike than different."

"That's really what OWN for me is about - clearing the space so that I can see other people's stories in a way that reflects my own," said Oprah Winfrey.

"I'm thrilled to be a part of South Africa because I feel a connection to the people here. I feel a connection to the land, I feel a connection to the spirit of the country. And I'm really so proud of the journey we've gone through in starting OWN in the United States while I was till doing the last year of The Oprah Show."

"I recognise that I didn't have the proper people. I couldn't be in two places at the same time - not even I can do that - and finding the correct leadership in the people who have been leading The Oprah Show all those years - that and moving those people over to OWN, really began to turn the tide for us and also change the narrative."

"What really changed the narrative was I stopped looking and listening to the press and what the press was saying of 'It's a struggling, it's struggling'. I started to think for myself."

"What an amazing thing it is to be born when I was born and to have worked in this business for as long as I have, and to end up with a TV network with my name on it, and to be able to create every day with my team the kind of programming that speaks to the hearts of people and which really connects to viewers in a way where they feel like they're a part of your family; that they feel like they know you," said Oprah Winfrey.

"When we do our shows, particularly the Super Soul Sundays, the response that I've gotten to that show are rewarding enough to last you a lifetime. Someone wrote to me just last week and said: 'I wish this could be Super Soul Network. But I realise the planet isn't ready, so I will just take the Sundays."

"I'm really so proud of the journey we've had. The thing I always ask my team as we continue this journey is of building more shows and meaningful programming which we know out viewers will respond to, is what is your intention?"

"Our intention behind every interview and every series is to bring something positive to our viewers - a new way of looking at something. Oprah's Master Class is about world famous legends speaking about their own struggles and using their life as a class and information to help us be enlightened about our own," said Oprah Winfrey.

"Our millions of viewers feel passionately about this channel the same way that they feel passionate about O, The Oprah Magazine, and they feel passionately about the shows."

"Those of us who are working behind the scenes, I believe that our programming is really resonating with our viewers because they see that we are encouraging them to do more than just sit in front of a television and watch. We encourage them to be interactive," she said.


ALSO READ: Oprah, MultiChoice and Discovery executives, and the press toast the start of OWN on TLC Entertainment on DStv in South Africa.
ALSO READ: MultiChoice CEO Collins Khumalo: "Welcome back to South Africa and Africa, Oprah!"
ALSO READ: Discovery on the new, upgraded TLC Entertainment on DStv with an Oprah Winfrey programming block: "We wanted to create a channel that our African audiences would love."
ALSO READ: Oprah: "The school has been one of the greatest rewards of my existence and in my life."
ALSO READ: Oprah awes South Africa at the O Magazine O You event; OWN programming block launches on TLC Entertainment.

Discovery on the upgraded new TLC Entertainment with Oprah: 'We wanted to create a channel that our African audiences would love.'

TLC on MultiChoice's DStv is now TLC Entertainment (DStv 172) with a premium Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) programming block for viewers on Thursdays and Sundays.

I asked James Gibbons, the senior vice president and country manager for emerging business for Discovery Networks for the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEEMEA) region, about the channel change for TLC Entertainment and what it all means for the improved channel proposition.

Why the word "entertainment" for TLC Entertainment and why the differentiation in the name of the channel, and why now?

James Gibbons: TLC Entertainment will be more than a lifestyle channel, offering a wider selection of engaging and inspirational TLC content that our viewers know and love, bolstered by the new and exclusive OWN programming block.  The word "Entertainment" reflects this and the new and entertaining programming line-up that will be featured on the channel.

 How long did the deal take to get the OWN programming block for TLC Entertainment for Africa?

James Gibbons: We don’t discuss commercial negotiations.

How were the specific programming and shows chosen to start TLC Entertainment with, for instance what went into the consideration for these specific shows?

James Gibbons: The TLC Entertainment schedule, including the new OWN content, has been tailored to suit and reflect our South African TLC viewers' tastes and interests. 

We wanted to create a channel that our African audiences would love to watch and based our programming strategy around this, choosing OWN programmes such as Oprah's Next Chapter to entertain and Super Soul Sunday to inspire.

These will sit alongside our existing TLC ratings-winners, including Cake Boss and Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, offering TLC Entertainment viewers the best in entertaining and uplifting programming content.

 With Oprah's Next Chapter, where would episodes start? Right at the beginning of where the show debuted in the United States, or with current episodes?

James Gibbons: We will not be airing the Oprah's Next Chapter episodes chronologically as such but will instead air them in a fashion that complements our overall schedule and also reflects any current local/global tie-ins. 

For instance, on Thursday 24 October we have paired the Beyoncé Next Chapter special with the Jay-Z Master Class episode, and will be airing the Rihanna Next Chapter episode on launch night of 17 October as she's in South Africa. This is a conscious programming strategy, providing our viewers with a more enjoyable watching experience.

What is Discovery’s expectation for the OWN programming, for instance does Discovery expect it to lift the viewership for the channel as a direct real programming strategy to bulk up the programming of the channel, is it more an experiment, or what is the motivation behind the move and the programming blocks?

James Gibbons: Our strategy in bringing the OWN programming to TLC Entertainment was to provide our South African viewers with even more of the content we know they love to watch. 

We saw from the huge success of the Lance Armstrong and Justin Bieber Next Chapter specials, as well as the one-off documentary Oprah Winfrey’s Leadership Academy for Girls, that our audiences have a real affinity with Oprah and her unique programming. 

By offering two weekly OWN blocks - My OWN Thursday and Super Soul Sunday - we hope our viewers will see this as appointment-to-view TV, giving them the entertaining and uplifting viewing experience only Oprah's content can provide.

 With the blocks placed on Thursdays and Sundays, would you describe it or Oprah Winfrey or OWN as now being TLC Entertainment's signature brand, or how would you say or describe what OWN and Oprah programming represent for Discovery/TLC Entertainment?

James Gibbons: The OWN content will complement and sit alongside our current flagship programmes such as Cake Boss, Breaking Amish and Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, all of which will be back for new series over the next few months. We also have several new series coming to the channel for this year and 2014 which we will be announcing soon.

Oprah: 'The school has been one of the greatest rewards of my existence and in my life.'

It's not her world famous talk show, or her TV channel, but her South African school for underprivileged girls which media mogul Oprah Winfrey now calls her "greatest reward".

With a programming block of her Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) kicking off this evening on TLC Entertainment (DStv 172) on MultiChoice's DStv platform which will run on Thursdays and Sundays and which will include her highly rated weekly talk show Oprah's Next Chapter, Oprah Winfrey jetted in to South Africa to talk to her magazine readers at the first-ever African O You event on Monday - and to attend the graduation ceremony of the third class of matric girls at her Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls (OWLAG) this last Saturday.

Oprah Winfrey says 16 of the girls are currently studying in the United States and the rest are studying at tertiary institutions across South Africa. Oprah Winfrey funds the tuition fees and tertiary education of the underprivileged girls from across South Africa.

"Opening the school has been one of the greatest rewards of my existence and in my life," says Oprah Winfrey, adding that "I've felt super challenged by it."

"Everybody who comes in your door say they know how to do it. They say they want to do it. But you have to look at the track record," says Oprah Winfrey, talking about the lessons she's learned in leadership and management from starting both her South African school and her TV network.

"Surround yourself with really good people. It's far better to have a person who is a really good person that you can train than have somebody who is a toxic person and actually doesn't know how to do their job. Toxicitiy drags everybody down."

"When I was four years old I realised that my life will be different than that of my grandmother," says Oprah Winfrey. "We didn't have a washing machine and one day my grandmother was boiling clothes in a big iron pot outside."

"She was boiling clothes and hanging them on the line. It was cold outside because I could see her breath. I was watching her do this and she said: 'Oprah Gail' - which is my middle name - 'You better watch me because one day you're going to have to learn to do this for yourself."

"And in that moment, standing here on the back porch looking through the screen at her, an inner voice inside me, God, said: 'No gran'mamma, I won't. And I have followed that feeling, that instinct to here."

"As I was driving through places like KwaZulu-Natal it looked very much like a hilly Mississippi where I grew up as a poor child working hard with my grandmother. I saw poor women who looked like my grandmother. And I saw little girls who looked like me. And I wanted to be able to take girls like that, who wouldn't have had the opportunity, but given the opportunity, could blossom," says Oprah Winfrey.

"And so that was the whole design for the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls. On Saturday I attended the third graduation ceremony of matric girls. And every single girl who has gone to the school has gone to college. Every single one."

"The thing I love the most about my school is that the girls are brilliant. They're just so brilliant and vibrant, but I love the sisterhood that we've created. They support and love each other within a sisterhood where they support each other."

"When I was going through the building of the school, I consulted my inner voice. You can't try and come to Africa and build a school if you don't ask: 'God, is that okay?' And I've been given the go-ahead. So then came all the difficulties and challenges, and I was confused by that. I thought: 'You said yes?! You said it's okay? Why is this happening?"

"I can tell you that all of my lessons - the greatest challenges that I've had, the school before the years of Ann van Zyl [current headmistress, set to retire soon] and in building the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), they were literally parallel".

"We were going through the crises here at our school at the very same moment that Discovery had come to me and had asked me if I would be interested in partnering with starting a TV network. And I remember saying to David Zaslav who's my partner at Discovery: 'You know, I'm going through this crisis at my school and I don't want to make the same mistake."

"He asked what does the school have to do with starting your own TV network?And I said it is the same because it is about leadership. And I won't be able to be in California. I'm only one person and I can only be in one place at a time. And so I understand very clearly that you need to have the right people if you're to succeed," says Oprah Winfrey.

"That' what the lesson of the school was for me. It was a lesson in responsibility. Those of you running businesses, those of you who want to start a business, it's about who you get to help support you because everything is about leadership."

"I ended up making the exact same mistake, again," says Oprah Winfrey. "It came in wearing a different set of pants with OWN."

"It didn't look like the same mistake but it was the same mistake. In the beginning of starting OWN I was trying to end The Oprah Winfrey Show and I couldn't be also in California and also do my own show."

"And so I wasn't until we got the right team of people in place who also literally didn't just talk the vision but walked the vision and executed it that you started to see the vision that you will see on TLC Entertainment starting this Thursday night."

BREAKING. Oprah Winfrey returning to South African television as TLC channel on DStv is renamed TLC Entertainment.

You're reading it here first. 

I can break the news and reveal that Oprah Winfrey is returning to South Africa television from October with a dedicated programming block of her Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), which includes her new talk show Oprah's Next Chapter, on the TLC channel on MultiChoice's DStv which is being renamed TLC Entertainment.

This is a story I've been tracking for months, and made specific media enquiries about it last week, this week, and the latest yesterday, and this afternoon the news that Oprah Winfrey programming is coming to South Africa as TLC on MultiChoice's DStv changes to TLC Entertainment.

The existing TLC channel will remain on On Digital Media's (ODM) TopTV and won't be changing to TLC Entertainment and also won't contain the Oprah Winfrey programming.

The move to make OWN programming available on South Africa on TLC Entertainment follows after Discovery Networks International (DNI) did a similar roll-out earlier this year in the United Kingdom, and also announced the same for Australia.

South African viewers will once again be able to watch Oprah Winfrey who is also visiting South Africa in October, when the OWN programming kicks in together with the renaming of the channel from 17 October.

Besides Oprah's Next Chapter, the talk show queen's highly rated new talk show, viewers will also be able to see Oprah Winfrey in programmes such as Oprah's Master Class and Oprah's Lifeclass and Super Soul Sunday.

Oprah's Next Chapter with Justin Bieber shown in 2012 on TLC in South Africa on DStv and TopTV was the number one programme on TLC for the year on the channel, while in January the two part interview with Lance Armstrong ranked number one in its timeslot across all channels and became the best ever rated portfolio show in South Africa, achieving a share above 7% with viewers aged 15 and older.

OWN programming will be shown in primetime on Thursdays and Sundays on TLC Entertainment on DStv, with repeats during dayparts during the rest of the week.

"It's no secret that South Africa and Oprah Winfrey enjoy a mutual affinity - so bringing the block to this special market is the right step," says Luis Silberwasser, the executive vice president and chief content officer for Discovery Networks International.

"Building upon the success of the block in the UK and the excitement surrounding its upcoming launch in Australia, we are proud to bring this unique offering to DStv viewers," he says.

"Oprah couldn't be more proud and honoured to share her new television programs with South Africa," says Erik Logan, the president of OWN. "This an exciting milestone moment in our continued international expansion."

"Securing the OWN programming block is crucial," says James Gibbons, the senior vice president and country manager for Discovery Networks for the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEEMEA) region, saying that the rebranded TLC Entertainment "will feature content tailored to suit our loyal viewers" which will make the channel "even more enjoyable and appointment-to-view".

Collins Khumalo, the CEO of MultiChoice South Africa is also chiming in with a "Welcome back to Africa, Oprah!"

"We have a great partnership with Discovery Networks International that benefits our customers, bringing extraordinary entertainment through their channels. The refreshed TLC Entertainment is yet another example, with the inclusion of the best selection of OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network programmes," says Collins Khumalo.

Besides Oprah's Next Chapter viewers will be able to watch Oprah's Master Class in which globally recognised names talk about their successes and failures, Oprah's Lifeclass in which  experts give life advice and Super Soul Sunday in which thinkers, visionaries and authors discuss themes such as true happiness, spirituality and personal fulfillment.

BREAKING. Soul Food Family, the second show from the Oprah Winfrey Network, starting this month in South Africa on The Discovery Channel.

You're reading it here first.

I can reveal that a second show from the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) in America is coming to South African TV viewers in this same month as the reality show Your Own Show which started last week on Vuzu (DStv 123). The first season of Soul Food Family will start on The Discovery Channel (DStv 121) on Sunday 22 April at 18:10.

I can reveal that Discovery is changing the title of this show - the most successful show so far on OWN since the launch of the channel 9 months ago - to Soul Food Family in South Africa. In America it's shown as Welcome to Sweetie Pie's.

(While the bulk of uninformed South African publications dealing with television keep telling readers that OWN programming isn't and can't be shown here or elsewhere, they're just clearly clueless. I can promise thar you have been, and always will, read credible content right here.)

The docu-reality show Soul Food Family follows Robbie Montgomery – one of the original backing singers for 1960s soul duo sensation Ike and Tina Turner – who've created her own successful soul food restaurant Sweetie Pies in St Louis run by her and her family.

Soul Food Family follows the loud, loving and still very musical Montgomery family, as they struggle with the demands of expanding their family-owned business, one soulful dish at a time.

Shows from the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) CAN be seen in South Africa and here's the real facts and reasons why we not (yet).

While some TV writers in this country who don't care to do actual homework, research, or care for facts, will be quick to tell you that the programming of Oprah Winfrey's new Oprah Winfrey Network or OWN channel simply isn't available and can't be seen in South Africa - that is simply just not true.

Several countries around the world who are not getting OWN as a pay TV channel are already watching a lot of OWN programming which are sold and separately distributed.

And it is not just possible for South Africa - it is already happening with Your OWN Show starting tonight at 19:13 on Mzansi Magic (DStv 107). (In it 10 contestants compete to try and get their own talk show on the OWN channel with presenters Nancy O'Dell from Entertainment Tonight and Carson Kressley.)

Here's the real truth and the real facts which the journalists in this country who cover television are not telling you because they don't make the effort to ask questions, ask questions to the right people, read, and do their homework. Instead of saying the OWN programming is for OWN alone and since its an American channel South African viewers can't see it, the truth is we can, if local broadcasters and channels care to carry it.

Number one: OWN programming can be bought. South African viewers can see Oprah Winfrey's new talk show Oprah's Next Chapter as well as any of the other programming on that channel like the amazing Season 25: Oprah Behind the Scenes. M-Net for instance acquired Your OWN Show for Mzansi Magic.

I constantly ask, and my latest and last media enquiry to SABC3 for instance was just last week to hear if SABC3 is considering getting Oprah's Next Chapter, Rosie, or Oprah's Lifeclass. SABC3 channel executives told me the broadcaster isn't looking into it at the moment. So the only thing preventing it is just programming and budget decisions from broadcasters.

TopTV executives are in Cannes, Frances right this moment at the MIPTV 2012 and might pick up some Oprah. Why? TopTV is planning and major revamp and overhaul of the Top One (TopTV 150) channel. Top One will remain a general entertainment channel, but TopTV has realized that Top One which is supposed to be it's version of ''M-Net'' - it's version of its premium general entertainment channel - is underperforming and needs a serious quality and premium content injection. I'm told that will be happening soon.

Secondly: Passion Distribution is the international distributor for OWN content - several other countries are already seeing OWN programming on various TV channels, and Passion Distribution is at MIPTV 2012 in Cannes this week showing OWN shows like Season 25: Oprah Behind the Scenes, Extreme Clutter with Peter Walsh, I Am Jazz, Extraordinary Moms, St. Louis Soul Food and Our America with Lisa Ling.

So forget the made up fluff from lazy people. This is the real answer.

Discovery looking at launching the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) internationally; ''confident there's markets it will do well in''.

In December last year I reported RIGHT HERE that the new Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) is looking at the possibility of coming to South Africa as well as other countries - that has now been confirmed and that process is continuing.

''We are exploring opportunities for additional OWN services in multiple locations in Australia and South Africa. Stay tuned!,'' said Oprah Winfrey's Harpo production company in December and Discovery that distributes the channel - without mentioning specific countries - now says it's indeed the case.

It's clear that South Africa is a prime candidate. Both MultiChoice's DStv and On Digital Media's (ODM) are aware of OWN and have looked at the channel, Oprah's private girls' school The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls is in South Africa, South Africa is the only country in the world outside of America with it's own version of O, The Oprah Winfrey magazine, and The Oprah Winfrey Show is a top viewership getter on SABC3.

Discovery, co-owner and distributor in the OWN venture, says discussions are underway with distributors in TV markets outside of America and Canada where OWN has been shown since the beginning of the year. ''We're confident there are markets it will do well in," said Mark Hollinger, who heads up Discovery's international business, as quoted by Reuters. ''We're confident there will be an international launch of the channel."

BREAKING. Is the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) coming to TopTV in South Africa in 2011?

You're reading it here first.

Is the new Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) that launches on 1 January 2011 in America coming to South Africa and On Digital Media's (ODM) TopTV pay TV platform in next year?

I broke the news RIGHT HERE in October when MultiChoice told me that they did look and considered the possibility of pursuing OWN as a channel but will no longer do so for at least 6 months until after the channel has started.
That leaves only TopTV in South Africa.

Now keep in mind all of the following: OWN initially planned to only launch in America, but has now also decided to roll out in Canada as well. OWN is a joint venture with Discovery that distributes the channel and would also do so worldwide as and when that would happen. Discovery already has 3 Discovery channels on TopTV and there is an existing and growing relationship. Earlier this year I also asked Discovery in person whether they would roll out OWN worldwide and in South Africa specifically. I was told that the focus is initially on just getting OWN up and running and then launching in America.

This is where things are now getting very interesting: Consider this sudden, brand-new answer this week from the Harpo side of the Oprah Winfrey Network: ''We are exploring opportunities for additional OWN services in multiple locations in Australia and South Africa. Stay tuned!''
This means that OWN is now definitely looking at expanding the channel to more countries besides just America and Canada after its January launch.

I also asked TopTV whether the pay TV operator is in negotiations to get OWN but haven't been given a definite ''yes'' or ''no'' answer. TopTV reiterates that Discovery is the international distributor of the forthcoming Oprah channel and that Discovery's ''focus is to first secure the market in the US and Canada before worrying about the international market''.

''We have always been interested in taking the OWN channel because it is high profile and has generated a lot of buzz,'' Ian Woodrow, TopTV's general manager: channels, just told me. ''The final decision to actually take it will depend upon a number of factors,'' he says, adding: ''We will weigh up the channel on its own merits and the asking price.''

BREAKING. Oprah Winfrey Network reveals a brand-new logo for her OWN TV channel.

Oprah Winfrey's Oprah Winfrey Network - or OWN as it will be known - just unveiled a brand-new channel logo. OWN will be launching early next year in America and Canada.

The new OWN logo replaces the previously used OWN logos. The new bold capital letters in orange-yellow, lime-green and violet-purple invoke a sense of kids' play blocks, whereas the earlier OWN logos seemed more organic, softer and less impersonal. OWN is set to launch in America on January 1, 2011.

Of course I broke the new RIGHT HERE earlier this month that MultiChoice was looking at adding OWN, but have decided against it for now. ''We'd like OWN to sit for at least six to eight months so that we can see,'' Aletta Alberts, MultiChoice's general manager for content told me when I asked about OWN. ''I think the big thing about OWN is an expectation that you're going to see a lot of Oprah. And at this stage, not.''

BREAKING. MultiChoice won't look to add the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) until at least 6 months after OWN launches in January 2011.

You're reading it here first.

I can reveal that although MultiChoice looked at possibly adding the channel at launch or close after (and will continue to look at how it performs once it starts early next year) MultiChoice has no plans of adding the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) anytime soon.

MultiChoice will consider adding OWN - the channel that Oprah Winfrey will start in January in America and Canada - after about six or eight months after launch . . .  if it does well enough.

''Originally it was a no-brainer. It's Oprah Winfrey. But the channel has had some management turn-over and Discovery has now invested double the amount they've originally envisaged in the channel. So we as MultiChoice have made the decision that we will not take OWN for DStv at launch,'' says Aletta Alberts, MultiChoice's general manager for content.

''We'd like OWN to sit for at least six to eight months so that we can see. I think the big thing about OWN is an expectation that you're going to see a lot of Oprah. And at this stage, not. There's lots of documentaries, her friends like Gayle and then she's trying her hand at scripted series again. I think the jury is out. I mean we'd love to have OWN on DStv, but we're not just going to take it because of the name. We want to make sure that it has a life. Also we hate putting channels on and then having to take them off when they don't perform,'' says Aletta Alberts.

BREAKING. Winfrey loves Woolworths. Oprah has a new FAVORITE THING - and it's South African!

Oprah Winfrey loves Woolworths. Oprah just revealed that she has a new favourite things that she calls ''the best in the world''.

At this morning's breakfast with South African ad execs, Oprah said she simply loves Woolworths' low GI seed bread.

''Woolworths makes the best low-GI seed bread in the world,'' the talk show titan said to the hundreds of people in the audience hanging on her every word at this morning's breakfast in Bryanston. (See my blog post about that here).
Oprah said she likes the low GI seed bread of Woolworths so much in fact, that she has asked a bakery in California to replicate it - so far without any success.

I'm awaiting a response from Woolworths to hear if they have any comment, as if or as soon as I get anything, I will let you know here.

BREAKING. Having breakfast with Oprah in South Africa. ALL THE SCOOP!

You're reading it here first. I broke the news last month and was first with the scoop that Oprah Winfrey would be in South Africa today to talk to readers of O, The O Magazine as well as advertising execs. And so she was.

I have exceptional, super excellent and credible sources everywhere, and Oprah Winfrey's You Have the Power power breakfast with readers and advertisers this morning is no exception, so here is all the scoop.  The tickets for the readers' event sold out in 4 minutes flat earlier this month. Here's the lovely dish and all the scoop. . . first:

There were several gatecrashers who showed up at the venue anyway, longing to see Oprah and trying to possibly slip into the breakfast at The Wanderers building at The Forum in Bryanston. Security was exceptionally tight but lowkey and professional - as everything Winfrey usually is. No unauthorized people got through and there were no incidents.

For SIMPLY ALL THE DISH IN SUPER DETAIL, click through below! . . .

BREAKING. Oprah Winfrey talks about OWN.

You're reading it here first. By now everyone knows and has been talking about Oprah Winfrey's announcement on Friday that she will be ending her show on 9 September, 2011 to launch The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN).

Oprah has just send out an email, confirming that OWN will launch in January, 2011 and saying:

''Fifteen years ago, I wrote in my journal that one day I would create a television network, as I always felt my TV show was just the beginning of what the future could hold. For me, the launch of OWN is the evolution of the work I've been doing on television all these years and a natural extension of my show.''

You can catch a glimpse at the brand new OWN website with a new video clip RIGHT HERE.