Oprah Winfrey is gearing up to leave her throne as daytime television's biggest talk show host next year, but the multiple Emmy Award winning-media maven won't be relinquishing her hosting duties anytime soon.

Winfrey previously announced that she plans to leave her celebrated show after 25 years to run her own cable television network, Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), which is a joint venture between Winfrey's Harpo Inc. and cable programmer Discovery Communications Inc.

This week, she will announce on 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' her plans to host a prime-time program called 'Oprah's Next Chapter.' The hour-long show, set to debut Jan. 1,2010 will find Winfrey traveling around the world and taking some of her big-name celebrity friends with her to interview people across the globe.

Right now, it is unclear how many times the show will air weekly, but advertisers will get a detailed look at the network's plans when Discovery does its up-front presentation on Thursday.

In addition to 'Next Chapter,' Oprah has reached out to some of her famous pals to participate in other shows on OWN.

Rap superstar Jay-Z has already been lined up to appear on a new show called 'Master Class,' which will feature people relaying their life stories on camera. The 'Empire State of Mind' MC, who took Winfrey and her show's cameras back to his hometown of Brooklyn, N.Y., last year, says that Winfrey called him up and he did not hesitate to accept.

"I didn't even think about it. I just said 'Yes,'" the Grammy Award winning rap icon said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

An original series called 'Visionaries: Creative Mind' will highlight pop musician Lady Gaga and 'Avatar' director James Cameron, among others. Country star Shania Twain will get her own reality show and 'Survivor' producer Mark Burnett will create a competition series for the next television show star.

Winfrey, who averages about 6.7 million viewers on her weekday show this season, may also appear in a book club show.

Former VH1-MTV president Christina Norman is helming the network as chief executive officer.

As for Winfrey, she says she is committed to actively making decisions about what appears on the network. "I am hands on, digging in there, looking through every tape," Winfrey said. "I'm not just up to my knees; I'm up to my thighs."