Executive hints at end of 'Winfrey Show'

CHICAGO, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- "The Oprah Winfrey Show" may cease airing in 2011 when Winfrey walks away from the U.S. TV talk show, an executive says.

Discovery Communications President David Zaslav, whose company is a business partner in the Oprah Winfrey Network, said the NBC daytime talk show star may leave the series by 2011 to focus on OWN efforts, the Chicago Tribune reported Friday.

"The expectation is that after (the 2010-11 season) her show will go off of … syndication, and she will come to OWN," Zaslav said. "We're talking now about what that presence would be and what programming she would be involved in directly. But this is her Chapter Two, and building the OWN brand online and on-air is something that she and I, we're working (on) together and it's a core mission for her."

But a spokeswoman for Winfrey's Harpo Productions said the TV star has not made an official decision on the matter to date, the Tribune reported.

"She has not made a final decision as to whether she will continue her show in syndication beyond that," spokeswoman Lisa Halliday said in a statement.