Oprah Winfrey's OWN Taps Susanne Daniels as a Consultant

Oprah Winfrey’s OWN has tapped former Lifetime topper Susanne Daniels to help reshape the network.

Daniels has been brought in as an executive consultant, reporting to OWN presidents Erik Logan and Sheri Salata.

Before Lifetime, Daniels served as president of programming at the then-WB Network. She'll bring her broadcast and cable experience to OWN and work on developing programming for the Winfrey net.

Daniels resigned from serving as president of entertainment at Lifetime in 2008 to spend more time with her family, initially staying on as a consultant with the network as it launched original programming including Army Wives and its first original sitcom in more than a decade with Rita Rocks.

Daniels has been serving as a consultant and will work part-time out of OWN’s Los Angeles offices. She started this week.

Winfrey noted in June that she would have done things differently when it came to the OWN launch.

The network launched Jan. 1 to healthy ratings as curious viewers tuned in after a media blitz by Winfrey. But the network’s ratings quickly came down to Earth and have failed to meet expectations amid ballooning programming costs.

“I told people I was having a network and so my audience came thinking it’s all there,” Winfrey said during a Q&A at the National Cable & Telecommunications Association’s annual Cable Show in Chicago.