The influence of power agency CAA is, in some respects, inscrutable. Then again, so is Oprah's. And when two unstoppable forces meet, well, you see who the weaker party is.

In the instance of Oprah's new TV channel OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, it's CAA agent Michael Camacho who's the weakling. Camacho worked on the deal between Oprah and Discovery Communications, which handed off its Discovery Health channel so Oprah's latest offering would have a home among cable operators. But then, after trying, surreptitiously, to set himself up to steer OWN, Camacho finds himself out of a job.

Camacho, as chief of CAA's Alternative TV unit, worked alongside CAA mega-agent Kevin Huvane on the deal. But without telling Huvane, Camacho is said to have gone directly to Oprah with a pitch to become the network's CEO. (While her name and money is involved in every aspect of the machine, Oprah will not be its chief.) Oprah's camp was dismayed; CAA reacted in kind, by firing him.

But apparently, the agency isn't intent on parting ways entirely. Nikki Finke hears CAA is working to help him set up his own company, while other agency's are reading his resume.