OPRAH WINFREY has thrown Sarah Ferguson a financial lifeline by offering the beleaguered Duchess of York her own TV show on Oprah’s new network.

Winfrey starts her own channel – the imaginatively-titled ‘Oprah Winfrey Network‘ (OWN) – in the New Year and is reportedly struggling to fill its schedules ahead of its launch.

“We have had initial conversations with Sarah Ferguson about a docu-series, not a talk show, but there is nothing to announce at this time,” Oprah’s network said this morning.

A source close to Fergie told the Mail on Sunday last week that Oprah had called the Duchess personally to make the offer.

“They spoke in person and, for Sarah, the offer is a ray of light at the end of a very dark tunnel.”

The deal comes within two months of Ferguson’s appearance on Oprah’s own show, in which she apologised for offering access to her ex-husband, Prince Andrew, in exchange for £500,000.

The News of the World had earlier released video tapes of its notorious ‘Fake Sheikh’ meeting with Ferguson and asking her to arrange a meeting with Andrew.

Ferguson has been trying to establish a media career in America for some years, believing the native population there to be more accepting of her personal history than Britain has been.

She is reported to be in about £2m of debt.