Tyler Perry To Leave OWN

After a five year run with Oprah’s OWN Network, Tyler Perry will be taking his shows and films to Viacom. Earlier in July, Perry landed a five year deal with Viacom to produce various projects on BET and other channels owned by Viacom. In efforts to shift Viacom’s content, Perry will create exclusively licensed television series and short films. In addition, he will now give Paramount Pictures exclusive first-look rights to his films. However, his long term TV deal will not begin until his contract with OWN ends in May 2019.

Tyler Perry will be making 90 episodes of comedy and drama series per year. Perry is excited to partner with and create content for Viacom’s “rich tradition.” In a statement about his new deal Perry said,

“I am eager to have one home where I can leverage all of their assets to tell my stories to an even wider audience. I have been very blessed to have worked with the incredible people at Lionsgate and OWN over the last few years and I look forward to continuing my work with them on a non-exclusive basis.”

Perry partnered with Oprah Winfrey in 2012 to reboot OWN’s slow start back in 2008. Since then, he has helped make the network profitable with shows like “The Haves And The Have Nots,” “Love Thy Neighbor,” and in 2018 will include the new comedy series, “The Paynes.” As Perry and OWN’s partnership comes to an end in 2019, Winfrey and Perry will still be able to work together on a non-exclusive basis. The Viacom deal is set to run through 2024.