Oprah Winfrey to End Her Program in 2011

Oprah Winfrey plans to end her syndicated television show in September 2011 as she turns her attention to a new cable-television channel she plans to launch with Discovery Communications Inc.

Ms. Winfrey told her staff of her decision on Thursday, according to a person familiar with the matter. She plans to make an official announcement Friday morning on her talk show, according to a spokeswoman for Ms. Winfrey’s Chicago-based Harpo Inc.

The move is a big blow to the syndicated television market in which Ms. Winfrey has long been a juggernaut. “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” launched in syndication in 1986, averaged 6.6 million viewers in the week ended Nov. 8, according to Nielsen Co.

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Pictured: Oprah Winfrey arrives at the screening of ‘Precious: Based On The Novel ‘PUSH’ By Sapphire’ during AFI FEST 2009 held at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on November 1, 2009 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for AFI)