"The Oprah Winfrey Show" launching "Oprah's Summer Giveaway".

"The Oprah Winfrey Show" launching "Oprah's Summer Giveaway". In a bid to keep ratings up over the off-season, "The Oprah Winfrey Show" today is launching "Oprah's Summer Giveaway," a three-month -long watch-and-win contest.

The promotion, announced on Oprah.com, calls on viewers to watch summer repeats of "Oprah" in order to discover a Word of the Day. Once they've heard the word, viewers will be encouraged to visit Oprah.com, enter the word, and possibly win daily, weekly or grand prizes.

"Oprah" is partnering with Target, GE, Sony, United and Volkswagen for the contest. Among the planned prizes: Target gift cards; Sony Bravia TV sets, Vaio computers and video cameras; air travel; and GE appliances.

The show is also giving away tickets to tapings of the first week of "Oprah's" new season, scheduled to kick off the week of Sept. 14. A grand prize winner will snag the trip to Chicago plus an assortment of the other prizes.

"Oprah's Summer Giveaway" is designed to be interactive, encouraging viewers to both tune in summer repeats and to visit Winfrey's website. The Word of the Day will also be available on Oprah.com, which means viewers technically don't need to watch "Oprah" on TV to win prizes.

This is not the first time "Oprah" producer Harpo has rolled out a Word of the Day contest. This spring, it partnered with WFAA in Dallas to give away a trip to Chicago to see the show.

Sources: (tvweek) Josef Adalian