Oprah Winfrey announced that she has no plans as of now to move her nationally syndicated show to her cable station, the Oprah Winfrey Network. But, she could change her mind by the end of the year.

From MSNBC.com

“We are not commenting on rumors or speculation,” said Beth Gebhard, a spokesperson for OWN, in response to questions about a possible Los Angeles move. Gebhard also said, “(OWN) will announce our launch date by the end of the year.”

Winfrey’s current deal ends in 2011, but the host has previously announced her retirement only to later renew her contract several times.

The fuel for this latest round of rumors has less to do with Winfrey’s contract and more to do with one of her longtime producers. Discovery announced Wednesday that Lisa Erspamer, co-executive producer of Winfrey’s talk show, will join OWN in January as chief creative executive. To those in the industry, that announcement suggested that perhaps Winfrey was planning to uproot the show as we know it and move it to L.A., and ultimately, to OWN.

After 24 years of hosting and executive producing the Oprah Winfrey show, its rumored that the diva of all talk show hosts may be leaving to work full-time with OWN (The Oprah Winfrey Network), which is a partnership between Harpo and Discovery Communications in Silver Spring, Md. “We’re talking now about what the presence will be and what kind of programming she would be involved in directly. But this is her chapter 2, and building the OWN brand online and on-air is… a core mission for her,” said Discovery CEO David Zaslav on a conference call. Although, he said Winfrey plans to leave in 2011 when her syndication contract ends with CBS and ABC, Harpo spokesperson Lisa Halliday is calling Zaslav’s comments “premature.” “She has not made a final decision as to whether she will continue her show in syndication. CBS Television Distribution also released a statement yesterday, saying it “would certainly welcome and hope that ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ would continue in syndication beyond [2011], but that is a decision only Ms. Winfrey will be making.”