Oprah Winfrey tops a list of the Highest-Paid Television Stars in the United States, earns an estimated US$260 million ($324m) a year.
- Jul 25, 2007
AceShowbiz - When it comes to money, Oprah Winfrey is the one with abundant. The chat show queen, who frequently listed on Forbes' Rich list, earns an estimated US$260 million a year from the famous "The Oprah Winfrey Show" for which she serves as host and supervising producer. With such amount of money, based on a list by TV Guide magazine, no doubt that she tops the list of the Highest-Paid Television Stars in the United States.
Placed just behind her at the 2nd spot is music producer Simon Cowell, who earns US$45 million for his role on the Fox network's smash hit talent show "American Idol" and his other TV projects. The rest three Highest Paid TV Stars are Judith Sheindlin, also known as Judge Sheindlin, at No. 3, taking in US$30 million thanks to her own syndicated court show "Judge Judy"; Katie Couric of "CBS Evening News" whose salary reaches US$15 million per year is placed at the 4th spot; and Zach Braff of "Scrubs" who is voted 5th, taking in US$6.3 million from the TV series.
The Highest Paid TV Stars in the Network Prime Time category, which salaries are counted per episode, include William Petersen ("CSI"): US$500,000, Mariska Hargitay ("Law & Order: SVU"): US$350,000, Christopher Meloni ("Law & Order: SVU"): US$350,000, Hugh Laurie ("House"): US$300,000, Julia Louis-Dreyfus ("New Adventures of Old Christine"): US$225,000, Ellen Pompeo ("Grey's Anatomy"): US$200,000, and Eva Longoria ("Desperate Housewives"): US$200,000.
For the Highest Paid TV Stars in the categories of Daytime and News Anchor, you can see the full list here.
