Oprah Responds to Criticism About OWN's Low Ratings

Oprah Winfrey has never shied away from publicly discussing her setbacks. The media mogul joined long-time friend Gayle King and co-anchors Charlie Rose and Erica Hill on CBS’ This Morning to talk openly about the difficulties her OWN cable network has been facing. “Had I known it was this difficult, I would have done something else,” she said.

OWN, which launched on January 1, 2011, has suffered from low ratings and recently let go of 30 staff members; the network also recently canceled The Rosie Show after only five months on the air. But these changes are mere road bumps to Winfrey, who said, “Because you failed at something – which we haven’t – but because you failed doesn’t mean you’re a failure… I feel better about our network today than I ever have.”

The queen of talk is not ready to throw in the towel just yet. The strategy, she said, “is to do what we should have done at the beginning, and that is to build one show, one hour at a time, and then move on to the next night.”

OWN will soon offer new shows, but has also brought back audience favorites like Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s.