Oprah net picks up another Sundance doc, plans more original content

US cable net OWN has picked up another feature doc from the Sundance Film Festival and is ramping up original programming to boost ratings.

The Oprah Winfrey and Discovery-joint venture channel has bought up Crime after Crime, from director Yoav Potash about the legal battle fought by Debbie Peagler, a woman imprisoned for over 25 years because of her links to the murder of a man who abused her.

It bought it from US distributor Submarine Entertainment, in a reported six-figure deal, following its premier at the Sundance Film Festival last week and will be aired as part of the OWN Documentary Film Club.

The deal follows OWN picking up Chastity Bono sex-change film Becoming Chaz at Sundance, which will also air as part of the Film Club strand.

OWN has been on air since January 1 when it replaced Discovery Health and said yesterday it will increase the number of original series it airs.

It has ordered two new original series that will debut this month; Searching For… a series about people looking for lost loved ones from Stuart Krasnow Prodcutions and Breaking Down the Bars about a group of female prisoners at a correctional facility in Indiana, from producer 44 Blue.

OWN also said that acquired series What Would You Do? in which hidden cameras test how members of the public react to various situations, will also bow this month.