Oprah Winfrey and Apple TV + have their big deal, first announced in 2018. Both sides confirmed the development but declined to comment. Both sides are believed to have agreed to continue working together, but project by project, now that their previous agreement has expired.
Winfrey and Apple TV + are currently collaborating on the documentary “Sidney” about the life of Oscar-winning actor Sidney Poitier. Directed by Reggie Hudlin, this project is from Apple Original Films and premiered last Friday on Apple TV +.
Winfrey and Apple also continue to collaborate on “Oprah’s Book Club,” available on both OprahDaily.com and Apple Books.
Under the agreement first signed in 2018, Winfrey and Apple were to create software that would be released as part of Apple’s original content line.
But even then, it didn’t seem clear how this deal would fit into Winfrey’s already crowded media empire. The cable channel she created with Discovery Communications, OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, has developed and produced such successful programs as Ava DuVernay’s “Queen Sugar.” Winfrey has renewed her contract with Discovery until 2025, although Discovery increased her stake in OWN to 95% in December 2020.
Recently, some of Winfrey’s most famous television events, the “Oprah with Meghan and Harry” interviews and the special with Adele, were broadcast on CBS.
At the time of the 2018 deal, sources told Variety that Apple’s deal with Winfrey did not conflict with the Discovery deal and that Winfrey remained an OWN screen exclusive with limited cuts.
Winfrey also continues her activism through the Harpo Productions banner, which produced “Sidney”. Recent productions of him include “The Color of Care,” a Smithsonian Channel documentary, and Marisa Jo Cerar’s upcoming Hulu series “Black Cake” (“Wome of the Movement”).
On Apple TV +, Winfrey teamed up with Prince Harry on a documentary series called The Me You Can’t See. Winfrey is also hosting “The Oprah’s Talk” and “The Oprah’s Book Club” for the show.
Puck News first reported the news of the end of the deal between Apple TV + / Oprah Winfrey.
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