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Oprah’s Big Goodbye
November 20, 2009 - 10:54 AM | by: Jill Dobson
As “The Oprah Winfrey Show” goes off the air, who will be most affected? Of course, Winfrey’s estimated 42 million viewers per week will feel the void. But what about Winfrey’s employees? I asked Dan Halcombe, a spokesperson for Winfrey’s Harpo Productions, if show staffers would lose their jobs. He indicated that there may be available positions for them elsewhere in Oprah’s empire, saying, “We’re ending the show, we’re not shutting our doors. We have multiple divisions, Harpo radio, Oprah.com and more.”
Media watcher and Syracuse University professor Dr. Robert Thompson tells me affiliate TV stations that get a ratings boost during – and after – Oprah each afternoon will be hurt. He says, “Stations that are used to having the #1 show in daytime deliver an audience to their local news programs will feel the impact. Another impacted group is the guests that are usually on. Relationship experts, authors and others who have used her show as a platform. Oprah was the holy grail for promoting your latest project.”
Winfrey is leaving her talk show to launch a new cable network, The Oprah Winfrey Network, or OWN.
“The biggest variable that we don’t know yet,” says Dr. Thompson, “Is how well is this OWN network going to do? If Oprah moves over there and gets a lineup of shows that everybody is talking about and people subscribe to the network, this could be big growth industry for Oprah.”
Thompson says some of Winfrey’s current viewers may not have access to her new network. “This will certainly affect her hardcore fans. Many people don’t know a world where Oprah’s not on TV five days a week. For a lot of her real fans, that hour with Oprah is actually an important part of their day. This will have a huge impact on them, especially those who don’t get digital cable or aren’t in a market where the OWN network will be shown.”
Also impacted, a division of CBS which distributes Winfrey’s show to affiliates. In a statement to FOX News, CBS Television Distribution said, “We have the greatest respect for Oprah and wish her nothing but the best in her future endeavors. We know that anything she turns her hand to will be a great success. We look forward to working with her for the next several years, and hopefully afterwards as well.”
Halcombe confirms for me that the show’s last episode will air September 9th, 2011. Winfrey will make the announcement on her talk show today.
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