Oprah Winfrey’s cable network now has a TV Everywhere app of its OWN.
OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network today launched its Watch OWN TV Everywhere streaming service, offering authenticated viewers access to the network’s live feed as well as much of its original programing on demand, said network officials.
The Watch OWN app will include full episodes of popular network shows including Winfrey’s series Super Soul Sunday, Tyler Perry-produced hit drama and comedy series including The Haves and the Have Nots and If Loving You is Wrong, and unscripted hits like Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s and new series For Peete’s Sake.
The app will also have classic episodes from The Oprah Winfrey Show, said the network.
Watch OWN is available through iOS from iTunes App Store and through Android from the Google play store, said network officials.
While it may seem that OWN is late to the apps game, network president Erik Logan told Multichannel News that the network wanted to be diligent and take its time before releasing its TV Everywhere service. He added the network also waited until it secured online rights deals for a number of its key shows before launching the service.
He added the timing of the launch also allows viewers to play with the app before the network’s June premiere of its new drama series Greenleaf, starring Winfrey herself.
“We didn’t want to go too soon to create a bad customer experience – we wanted to wait until we got to a good place which we feel we are,” Logan said. “We also wanted to take advantage of where we were with our shows, our programming grid and our content so viewers could watch all of OWN anywhere.”
Logan said the network doesn’t have any immediate plans to eventually launch an OTT service beyond the app. “We are big believers in driving value for our cable partners, so this is a real key element for us,” he said. “We’re going to take it one step at a time.”
