Oprah Winfrey's cable channel OWN won't even be on your television until January and it's already making all kinds of news, including a double-down on its investment and its very first lawsuit—for discrimination, of all things.

Discovery Communications—the media company that owns Discovery channel, TLC, and others—is funding the endeavor and put aside $100 million to launch Oprah's new cable dominion and the likely future home of her talk show. They already burned through that and today they put up another $89 million to get the thing off the ground. If it were anyone other than Oprah behind the network, we would worry about the thing being a hit but, come on, this has got to be a sure thing. Right?

Another inevitability are lawsuits, and OWN has its first one before even hit the air. Catherine Dunn, an assistant with OWN since 2008, is suing the channel for discrimination, creating a hostile work environment, and wrongful termination, after she was replaced by a younger, non-disabled person. Dunn claims she had to take a leave of absence because the stress of her job was causing her multiple sclerosis to flare up. Hey, no one said working with Oprah was easy... or cheap.

[Image via Getty]