MUMBAI: Here is good news for fans of the Oprah Winfrey Show. The talk show queen and media magnate has signed a contract that will keep her programme on air into 2008.
The scenario last year in March was quite different when Winfrey had indicated that she wouldn't go beyond the 2005-06 season. In India the show airs weekday mornings on Star World.
An earlier Indiantelevision.com report had indicated that under the new deal, US stations picking up the show were apparently paying significantly higher licensing fees to King World to lock in the show for the additional two-year period. With the new deal Winfrey will have been on the air with her show for 22 years.
A Reuters report states that earlier this year, she 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 the report states. Her show is the most successful, highest-rated talk show in global television history, ranking number. one among all talk shows for the past 17 seasons. Besides 211 US stations, the show is distributed to 105 countries across the globe by CBS Broadcast International, a division of CBS.