Entertainment

"The Oprah Winfrey Show" will end its run in 2011 after 25 seasons on the air, Winfrey''s production company said Thursday night (19 NOV.).

The iconic broadcast grew from a local Chicago talk show into the foundation of a multibillion dollar media empire.

Winfrey plans to announce the final date for her show during a live broadcast Friday (20 NOV.), Harpo Productions Inc. said. A Harpo spokeswoman declined to comment on Winfrey''s future plans except to say that "The Oprah Winfrey Show" will not be transferred to cable television.

Winfrey is widely expected to start up a new talk show on OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, a much-delayed joint venture with Discovery Communications Inc. that is expected to debut in 2011. OWN is to replace the Discovery Health Channel and will debut in some 70 million homes.

CBS Television Distribution, which distributes "The Oprah Winfrey Show" to more than 200 markets blanketing the United States, held out hope that it could continue doing business with Winfrey, perhaps producing a new show out of its studios in Los Angeles.

Winfrey''s 24th season opened earlier this year with a bang, as she drew more than 20,000 fans to the city''s Magnificent Mile on Michigan Avenue for a Chicago block party with the Black Eyed Peas.

She followed up with a series of blockbuster interviews - Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield, exclusives with singer Whitney Houston and ESPN''s Erin Andrews, and just this week, former Alaska governor, GOP vice presidential candidate and best-selling author Sarah Palin. She found time between shows to lobby the International Olympic Committee in Denmark for Chicago''s failed bid to host the 2016 Olympics.

The loss of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" would be a blow to CBS Corp. because it earns a percentage of hefty licensing fees from TV stations that use it.

Winfrey started her broadcasting career as a teenager in Nashville, Tenn., reading the news at WVOL.

In 1984, she relocated to Chicago to host WLS-TV''s morning talk show "A.M. Chicago" - the show was became "The Oprah Winfrey Show" one year later. She set up Harpo the following year and her talk show went into syndication, rising to become one of the most successful in the history of broadcasting.

Earlier this year, Forbes scored Winfrey''s net worth at $2.7 billion.