CHICAGO
Holding back tears, Oprah Winfrey told her studio audience yesterday that she would end her show in 2011 after 25 years on the air.
Winfrey told the audience that she loved The Oprah Winfrey Show, that it had been her life and that she knew when it was time to say goodbye. "Twenty-five years feels right in my bones and feels right in my spirit," she said.
The powerhouse show became the foundation for her multibillion-dollar media empire, but in the last year, has seen its ratings slip 7 percent. Winfrey, 55, is widely expected to start up a new talk show on OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, a much-delayed 50-50 joint venture with Discovery Communications Inc. that is projected to debut in January 2011. OWN is to replace the Discovery Health Channel and will debut in about 80 million homes.
Winfrey offered no specifics about her plans for the future, except to say that she intended to produce the best possible shows during her last 18 months on the air.
CBS Television Distribution, which distributes the show to more than 200 U.S. markets, held out hope that it could continue doing business with Winfrey, perhaps producing a new show out of its studios in Los Angeles.
"We know that anything she turns her hand to will be a great success," the CBS Corp. unit said in a statement. "We look forward to working with her for the next several years, and hopefully afterwards as well."
Once a local Chicago morning program, the production evolved into television's top-rated talk show for more than 20 years, airing in 145 countries worldwide and watched by an estimated 42 million viewers a week in the U.S. alone.
Audience members described the atmosphere inside the studio yesterday as tense and emotional, with some reaching for tissues as Winfrey announced her decision. But amid the sadness, there also was understanding among the crowd, Donaldson said afterward.
"When I looked around, there was a peace there, because I like to think everybody was happy for her decision to move on," she said.
Fans expressed hope that Winfrey would soon announce another project.
"Oprah, she impacts everybody, her life, the way she gives," said Shawana Fletcher, 29, of Chicago. "I hope she's not totally done. That's what we're praying."
The loss of The Oprah Winfrey Show would be a blow to CBS Corp., which earns a percentage of hefty licensing fees from TV stations that use it -- largely ABC affiliates. CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves told analysts two weeks ago that the contract with the show runs through most of 2011 and "if there's a negative impact, it wouldn't hit us until ‘12."
"Oprah's been a force of media and there's really no person you can look to out there who you could say, "That's the heir apparent,'" said Larry Gerbrandt, an analyst for Media Valuation Partners in Los Angeles. Gerbrandt noted that many stations build their schedules around Winfrey's show.
"It's a big loss, but not as huge as it would have been 10 years ago," he said. "However, it still commands the biggest audience and ABC station competitors are licking their chops."
Talk of the show's end often has accompanied Winfrey's contract negotiations. Before signing her current contract in 2004, she talked about quitting after the 2005-06 season. As far back as 1995, she called continuing "a difficult and important decision."
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