Oprah Winfrey - Winfrey's Budget Reset At $189 Million

Talk show queen OPRAH WINFREY has agreed to boost her presence on her new U.S. TV network OWN - after broadcasting bosses agreed to allocate an additional $89 million (£59.3 million) to the venture.

Executives at Discovery Communications initially invested $100 million (£66.7 million) in a joint venture with Winfrey to premiere the mogul's new network in January (11)

A report published earlier this month (Aug10) on Discovery's second quarter earnings revealed the firm had already spent three quarters of the "maximum of $100 million that we're obligated to".

Now Discovery bosses have agreed to pump another $89 million (£59.3 million) into the project - after Winfrey agreed to either host or star in a another show featured on the network.

Winfrey was previously slated to appear in a primetime travel series called Oprah's Next Chapter. However, she is contractually prevented from hosting another talk show until her syndicated program The Oprah Winfrey Show ends in September 2011.

Discovery CEO David Zaslav tells the New York Post, "We're leaning into the content and the venture.

"Oprah has been really engaged, and she's the creative leader of this channel. We're going to see more of Oprah."