Holding back tears, Oprah Winfrey told her studio audience Friday that she would end her show in 2011 after a quarter-century on the air, saying "prayer and careful thought" led to her decision.

Winfrey told the audience that she loved "The Oprah Winfrey Show," that it had been her life and that she knew when it was time to say goodbye. "Twenty-five years feels right in my bones and feels right in my spirit," she said.

Winfrey talked about being nervous when the program began in 1986 and thanked audiences who had invited her into their homes over the past two decades.

The powerhouse show became the foundation for her multibillion-dollar media empire, but in the last year, it has seen its ratings slip 7 percent. Winfrey, 55, is widely expected to start up a new talk show on OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, a much-delayed joint venture with Discovery Communications Inc. that is projected to debut in 2011. OWN is to replace the Discovery Health Channel and will debut in some 74 million homes.

CBS Television Distribution, which distributes the show to more than 200 U.S. markets, held out hope it could continue doing business with Winfrey, perhaps producing a new show out of its studios in Los Angeles.

"We know that anything she turns her hand to will be a great success," the CBS Corp. unit said in a statement. "We look forward to working with her for the next several years and hopefully afterwards as well."

Once a local Chicago morning program, the production evolved into television's top-rated talk show for more than two decades, airing in 145 countries worldwide and watched by an estimated 42 million viewers a week in the U.S.

Winfrey's show drives viewers to early evening newscasts in many TV markets, but in recent years the show has routinely placed third in overall ratings in its 4 p.m. weekday time slot on Pittsburgh's WTAE behind news on KDKA-TV and "Judge Judy" on WPXI.

Last month, "The Oprah Winfrey Show" perked up to second place in household ratings, and it routinely ranks No. 2 among the younger viewers prized by advertisers and No. 1 among women ages 25-54. WTAE's 5 p.m. newscast has generally ranked second to KDKA in household ratings in recent sweeps periods.

The end of Channel 4's contract to carry "The Oprah Winfrey Show" would allow the station to add another hour of news at 4 p.m. A station spokeswoman said no decision has been made about how the time slot will be filled.

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