• Broadcasting & Cable, Thursday, November 5, 2009 11:18 PM

CBS' The Oprah Winfrey Show will depart broadcast syndication and move to Winfrey's new cable network, OWN, when the show's contract expires in 2011, according to a report published by Deadline Hollywood Daily. That prediction is in line with what Discovery chief David Zaslav said nearly a year ago.

Late Thursday, executives said nothing has been finalized and that Winfrey would make an announcement before the end of the year. But this is not the first time Oprah execs have dealt with the expectation the talker would jump to OWN.

Back in November, Discovery Chief David Zaslav used Discovery's earnings call to tell analysts: "The current expectation is that after fall 2011 her show will go off of ... syndication, and she will come to OWN," the cable network that Winfrey's production company, Harpo, is creating in conjunction with Discovery. If Oprah moves to OWN, which is currently distributed in 70 million homes as the Discovery Health Network, it should spur OWN's distribution. OWN is currently slated to launch sometime in 2010.

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