MUMBAI: Hallmark Channel will soon become the new home for The Oprah Winfrey Show in Asia.

Channel owners Sparrowhawk Media have signed a deal, securing exclusive pan regional cable and satellite rights to the show, which is a worldwide hit and the undisputed leader of daytime talk show television.

The multi-Emmy-award winning programme will launch on the Hallmark Channel in Asia in June 2007, it is learnt.

The agreement with CBS Paramount International, the international distributor of the  show, gives the Hallmark Channel access to The Oprah Winfrey Show as of 1 June 2007. The Oprah Winfrey Show will screen weekdays Monday to Friday and Sunday evenings, commencing 3 June 2007.

The Oprah Winfrey Show is the highest rated talk show in history. Her rare prime-time interview with Michael Jackson in 1993 became the fourth most watched event in American television history. Her most famous recent shows include the first episode of the nineteenth season of The Oprah Winfrey Show during which each member of the audience received a new car. Winfrey recently made a deal to extend her show until the 2010 – 2011 season, by which time it will have been on the air for 25 years.