One entertainment website, following up on reports on TheWrap and LATimes.com, claims that Oprah Winfrey’s already finalized plans to depart daytime.
But a spokesperson for Winfrey just confirmed our report from Wednesday: There’s no news– for now.
Winfrey "has not made a decision yet," her rep said. "As she has previously stated, she’ll be making an announcement before the end of the year."
A spokesman for CBS TV Distribution echoed the Winfrey camp.
"Nothing has changed," he said. "The decision is Oprah’s to make. As we have stated repeatedly, we love Oprah and if she wants to continue her show then we want to continue to be in business with her."
As TheWrap reported yesterday, Winfrey is getting closer to a decision. And the appointment of a key "Oprah Winfrey Show" producer to the role of chief creative officer at OWN has set off fierce speculation that Winfrey might have decided to focus more on her cable assets.
Odds have long favored Winfrey shaking up her syndication deal after her current deal with CBS Television Distribution ends in August 2011.
What’s more, while some choose to focus on the notion that Winfrey might move her five-day-a-week talk show to OWN, it seems much more likely that Winfrey would cut back her time commitment to talking if she moved to OWN– perhaps a weekly or twice-weekly program?
Read our original post here. And tune in to CNN tonight when Anderson Cooper interviews Winfrey on CNN.
UPDATED 3:24 CST TO INCLUDE CTD STATEMENT
