Oprah to Leave Syndication in 2011

By Paige Albiniak
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

Oprah Winfrey will end her
long-running talk show after her 25th season draws to a close in
2011, the talk-show host will announce on her program
Friday. 

ABC-owned
WABC New York reported the news on its Web site on Thursday afternoon; Winfrey's Harpo Productions confirmed the report. The
ABC owned stations have always served as the key station group for The Oprah
Winfrey Show, which is distributed by CBS Television
Distribution.

"We have the greatest respect for Oprah and wish her nothing but the best in her future endeavors" said a CTD spokesperson in a statement. "We know that anything she turns her hand to will be a great success. We look forward to working with her for the next several years, and hopefully afterwards as well." 

Winfrey is starting her own cable
network called OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network in a joint venture with Discovery
Communications. OWN will replace what is now Discovery Health Network on cable
systems.

What remains unconfirmed is
whether Winfrey will move her talk show to OWN, although that'swhat Hollywood blogger Nikki Finke reported earlier this month, reiterating
comments that Discovery chief David Zaslav made one year earlier during a
conference call.

Paige Albiniak
Paige Albiniak

Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.