LONDON: International talk show queen Oprah Winfrey has issued an apology for breaking TV ratings rules and urging fans to watch her "Oprah’s Next Chapter" show instead of Grammy Awards.

Contactmusic.com, the 58-year-old invited followers to turn off music’s big night and switch to her network, OWN, by on micro-blogging site twitter.

"Everyone who can please turn to OWN, especially if u have a Nielsen box (sic). Commercial Grammy people..you can turn to Own," she tweeted.

But ratings compilers at Nielsen organisation demanded Winfrey to remove her tweet and her posts were later removed.

"I removed the tweet at the request of Nielsen. I intended no harm and apologise," Winfrey said in a statement.