Oprah's OWN network has struggled to find viewers for the 15 months it has been on the air. Since October, Rosie O'Donnell has tried to grow her ratings as she took over Oprah's old Chicago studio with The Rosie Show. The ratings have fallen from 500,000 to just 150,000 viewers. I only watched the show once, and the absence of a studio audience was a mistake in my opinion. It seemed eerie to introduce a guest and have them walk out to complete silence. The studio audience added so much life to Rosie's old show a decade ago. Rosie's adversary, Donald Trump, took the opportunity to call Rosie a failure when he heard about the cancellation.
The OWN network has 90 employees, down from 150 at its peak. Discovery Communications, Inc. owns part of the network along with Winfrey. They will take more of a hands-on approach to managing the network.
* Some information from The Chicago Tribune and Fox News
