Lights, cameras, Oprah: Harpo Studios equipment up for bid

Harpo Studios

Harpo Studios

In April, Oprah Winfrey auctioned off her antique furniture, china, candlesticks and other household items from her Water Tower condo. Now her cameras, microphones and teleprompters are on the block, too.

Friday marks the opening of an online auction of used broadcast equipment from Winfrey’s Harpo Studios in the West Loop. It’s a vast array of top-quality gear that’s expected to generate millions of dollars from buyers around the world, according to ReelChicago.com.

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey

The catalog includes everything from Sony HD cameras, Fujinon HD lenses, Autoscript teleprompters and Yamaha audio consoles to wireless mics, lights, switchers, and dimmers/processors.

Ending her three-decade run in Chicago, Winfrey announced earlier this year she would shut down Harpo Studios and consolidate all operations at OWN headquarters in West Hollywood. Real estate developer Sterling Bay bought the four-building Harpo Studios property for a reported $30.5 million. It leased a portion back to Harpo Productions through April 2016.

“The time had come to downsize this part of the business and to move forward,” Winfrey told the Hollywood Reporter in March. “It will be sad to say goodbye, but I look ahead with such a knowing that what the future holds is even more than I can see.”

Bidding on the studio equipment, which will be conducted in two parts, opens at 8 a.m. Friday and runs through June 11. The online auction is being conducted by Joseph Finn Co., an industrial auctioneering and appraisal firm in Newton, Massachusetts.

Auction company officials did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.

Harpo Studios

Harpo Studios