ABC AND HARPO PRODUCTIONS ANNOUNCE THE RETURN OF "THE OPRAH WINFREY OSCAR� SPECIAL," WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3

In celebration of the 82nd Annual Academy Awards, "The Oprah Winfrey Oscar Special" returns to ABC WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3 (10:01-11:00 p.m., ET). Oprah once again brings together Hollywood's biggest stars to interview each other in casual, intimate settings, capturing moments seldom seen. The hour-long primetime special will air in the week leading up to the Academy Awards on Sunday, March 7 (5:30 p.m., PT / 8:30 p.m., ET), which will also be broadcast on ABC. (Note: this program will repeat Saturday, March 6 at 8:00 p.m., ET)

"The Oprah Winfrey Oscar� Special" is produced by Harpo Productions. Oprah Winfrey and Sheri Salata are executive producers.

Harpo Productions, Inc. is the most successful production company in daytime talk, producing the number one, award-winning "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and syndication's latest success, "The Dr. Oz Show," as well as having developed "Dr. Phil" and "Rachael Ray." Harpo Productions creates and develops original TV programming for primetime, syndication and cable television and operates Oprah.com (www.oprah.com), a premier lifestyle website. ZoCo Productions, LLC, an affiliate of Harpo Productions, Inc., and Sony Pictures Television co-produce "The Dr. Oz Show." Harpo Print, LLC and Hearst Magazines publish the monthly O, The Oprah Magazine publication. Harpo Films produces feature films and, through an exclusive deal with HBO, scripted television programming. Harpo Radio, Inc. produces Oprah Radio (XM channel 156, Sirius channel 195 as part of its "Best of XM" package) on Sirius XM Radio. A joint venture between Oprah Winfrey and Discovery Communications, OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, a multi-platform company, will debut in January 2011 in approximately 80 million homes, on what is currently the Discovery Health Channel.