25 Year Run of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" to Come to an End in 2011

The New York Times is reporting that legendary daytime talk show host, Oprah Winfrey, will announce on Friday that the final episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" will be aired on September 9, 2011. Winfrey has opted to leave her daytime talk show behind in two years in order to concentrate on programming that will be aired on her very own cable network. The official name of her cable channel has been revealed as OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, and confirmation has been made that she will make appearances on her network in an unspecified capacity.

The news that Winfrey is expected to make the announcement on her show tomorrow was confirmed by a letter that was sent out by the President of the Harpo production company, Tim Bennett. The letter was reportedly distributed to the 214 local television networks that currently air her daytime talk show and it stated, "The sun will set on the Oprah show as its 25th season draws to a close on September 9, 2011."

Television experts are projecting that Winfrey's departure from broadcast television will serve as a ringing endorsement for the cable television business. According to statistics that have been compiled by The New York Times, "The Oprah Winfrey Show" draws an average of seven million viewers per episode, which is almost twice as many viewers as the second highest ranked talk show on television.