Despite a slow economic environment, Oprah Winfrey’s media empire continues to expand taking in former MTV President Christina Norman as the new chief executive of The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN).

For her 55th birthday on Thursday, the queen of all media gifted herself a brand new CEO for OWN, a 50-50 venture between Winfrey and Discovery Communications Inc., which plans to launch later this year, or in early 2010, replacing Discovery Health channel in about 70 million homes.

Former MTV Networks programming whiz Christina Norman will take over her new duties and creative aspects of the network on February 17, and will be based in Los Angeles. She will be working closely with Robin Schwartz, president of the network and Robert Tercek, president, digital media who oversees Oprah.com and will also oversee OWN's web operations.

According to reports, Oprah's initial choice was former Viacom CEO Tom Freston, whose wife Kathy is a regular on Oprah's show. Instead, Freston joined Oprah as a consultant and steered her towards many Viacom veterans for the CEO post, including Norman, who praised her former boss.

“This is the job I've been working toward my entire career,” said Norman, who worked for Viacom's flagship network for 17 years working her way up from a freelance production coordinator for MTV in the eighties to eventually run MTV and its sister network VH-1.

In terms of forthcoming programming genres, Norman said OWN would span: formats, alternative programming, specials, scripted, talk shows, magazine shows, original movies and documentaries.

“I've always had the utmost admiration and respect for Christina's innovative strategies and management style. She is a proven leader. Her shared values, passion and enthusiasm make her a natural fit for OWN's emerging platforms. We're thrilled to have her,” Oprah said in a statement.