Apple’s Big Oprah Deal Is Getting A Shock Ending

The reality is that we will likely never know the true reason behind the ending of what was almost certainly a highly lucrative contract. That’s not stopped speculation from kicking up, unsurprisingly, with one common theme being that Oprah might simply be too busy to produce as much content for Apple as it would have liked. Her biggest projects in the past few years have mostly been attached to other networks and companies, Variety points out, despite sources insisting back when the Apple deal was first formulated that it wouldn’t conflict with any of her existing content contracts. 

Her collaboration with CBS included the Prince Harry and Meghan Markle interview, and the Adele special; for the Smithsonian Channel, she produced “The Color of Care,” and she also worked with Hulu on the “Black Cake” series. There’s a lot going on there. For OWN, she developed the hit show titled “Queen Sugar,” and she renewed her contract with Discovery through 2025, so that collaboration will continue.

That’s not to say Oprah’s output with Apple has been lacking. Though her on-screen appearances are apparently largely — and contractually — limited to The Oprah Winfrey Network alone, she was behind the Prince Harry documentary “The Me You Can’t See” and her own shows titled “The Oprah Conversation” and “Oprah’s Book Club.” According to Puck, those things will live on, but it will all be done on a project-by-project basis as opposed to a contract similar to what the parties had in place thus far.