Oprah gives away 276 cars on TV show

US talk show queen Oprah Winfrey, seen here August 2004

CHICAGO (AFP) - US talk show queen Oprah Winfrey kicked off the 19th season of her show by giving away 276 cars worth seven million dollars.

Winfrey provided all 276 women in her hand-picked audience with the Pontiac G6 sports sedans.

Relatives of all the audience had written in to the show say the women were a deserving case.

Eleven of the cars were given out during the show while the rest of the audience got gift boxes. When the women opened the boxes they also had the keys to new cars, which makers General Motors Corp. estimate to be worth about 28,000 dollars each.

GM said the cost of the cars was the same as about 50 prime time television adverts.

The show reaches an estimated weekly audience of 30 million viewers in the United States and is also syndicated to more than 100 other countries.

"Anyone can run commercials, but you rarely get a chance to partner with someone of Oprah's stature," said Mark-Hans Richer, Pontiac's director of marketing.

link : http://uk.news.yahoo.com/040914/323/f2l5g.html