Oprah may be leaving the Windy City to pursue the long-delayed "Oprah Winfrey Network" in LA.

Oprah Winfrey may be leaving Chicago and moving her infamous daytime talk show “The Oprah Winfrey Show” to Los Angeles to finalize plans for “OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network” project with Discovery Communications.

According to TV gossip guru Nikki Finke, Oprah has decided not to renew her contract with ABC, which ends in the Fall of 2011.

Instead, Finke reports Oprah will focus on “OWN,” the highly anticipated and long-delayed Oprah Winfrey Network—that would reach more than 70 million homes—as a joint venture between Winfrey and Discovery Communications.

Sources say after the original announcement made several years ago, Discovery Communications has seen three top executives and is said to have lost millions of dollars, prompting current Discovery Chief Executive David Zaslav to tell Winfrey to “move it or lose it,” meaning she either migrates her talk show to Discovery’s cable venture or the entire OWN project would be canceled.

But the move to L.A. may be the final piece of the puzzle to make Discovery a success.

After all, Oprah’s show is the “crown jewel” of daytime talk shows, remaining the number one talk show for 23 consecutive seasons, winning every sweep since its debut in 1986.

About OWN: THE OPRAH WINFREY NETWORK

A joint venture between Oprah Winfrey and Discovery Communications, OWN: THE OPRAH WINFREY NETWORK is a multi-platform media company designed to entertain, inform, and inspire people to live their best lives.

OWN will debut in more than 70 million homes, on what is currently the Discovery Health Channel.

The venture also will include the award-winning digital platform Oprah.com.

RELATED STORY: Lisa Erspamer Named Chief Creative Officer of OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network