Oprah may quit long-running talk show

Oprah Winfrey may bring her long-running syndicated chat show to an end and focus on a new cable channel she is launching with Discovery Communications, it has emerged.

Winfrey is contracted to produce her current show until the end of the 2010-11 TV season. Discovery CEO David Zaslav told reporters that after OWN launches, "the expectation is... her show will go off of ABC in syndication and she will come to OWN".

He added that starting the channel amounted to a "chapter two" in Winfrey's career and that "building the OWN brand online and on-air is... a core mission for her".

A representative for Winfrey's production company, Harpo, said that "a final decision as to whether she will continue her show in syndication after her contract expires in 2011" has yet to be made.

At the end of the 2010-11 season, Winfrey will have presented her show for 25 years.