[url]http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=2771064[/url]

Oprah Signs Two-Year Contract for Talk Show

Mon May 19, 2003 01:00 PM ET

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Billionaire talk show host Oprah Winfrey has signed a contract that will keep her hit daytime TV program on the air into 2008, her production company and the show's distributor said on Monday.

The announcement from Viacom Inc.'s King World Productions and Winfrey's Harpo Productions Inc. did not disclose the monetary value of the agreement.

Many in the industry had expected the Chicago-based series to end in 2006 when Winfrey's current contract was to expire. The new pact, her second two-year extension in a bit more than a year, will keep the show going with her as host and producer through the 2007-2008 season.

Winfrey earlier this year recaptured the title of America's favorite TV personality, according to a Harris survey. She had claimed that title in 1998 and 2000, but fell to third place in 2001 behind Drew Carey and Regis Philbin.

Earlier this year, she also became the first black American woman to make the annual Forbes list of the world's wealthiest people. The business magazine listed 476 people and said Winfrey had a fortune of about $1 billion.

Winfrey's show is in its 17th season.

"It's fulfilling being able to do this kind of television," Winfrey said in the announcement, "and I believe continuing to have a voice and a platform to speak to the world is still the right thing to do."

Her production company refers to the show as the most successful, highest-rated talk show in global television history, ranking No. 1 among all talk shows for the past 17 seasons. Besides 211 U.S. stations, the show is distributed to 105 countries worldwide by CBS Broadcast International, a division of CBS Enterprises.

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