Simon Cowell to Leave 'American Idol' for 'The X Factor'

Tue, 22 December 2009 22:37:46 ET

'Simon prepares for a new season of 'Idol' - or should I say, his last season of 'Idol'," announces Tony Cowell when confirming that his younger brother's departure is due to his own reality show.

Simon Cowell is going to leave "American Idol" judging panel after the show's upcoming ninth season is done. Bringing out the news was Simon's older brother Tony Cowell on the Saturday, December 19 episode of his weekly podcast "The Cowell Factor". "Meanwhile, Simon prepares for a new season of 'Idol' - or should I say, his last season of 'Idol'," so he claimed.

Tony further revealed that the 50-year-old will leave the Fox TV's show since he wants to focus on bringing his own reality singing contest, "The X Factor" to the United States. He said, "A press statement is being prepared which will confirm what everybody expected: Simon will leave 'Idol' at the end of 2010 to concentrate on bringing the American version of 'X Factor' to U.S. TV in 2011."

Contrary to Tony's statement, earlier reports have suggested Simon had renewed his "Idol" contract for the next three seasons. Robert Sillerman, the CEO of CKX, the parent company of the reality show and co-producer 19 Entertainment, told MTV in August, "We've heard from Fox, who has asked us for approval for Simon Cowell to appear for three more years on 'Idol.' "

"They, in their negotiations with Cowell, have asked us to pre-approve him not only for 'American Idol' '09, which has begun taping, but they have also asked us for approval for '10 and '11, indicating to us that they're finishing their negotiation with Cowell," Robert explained further. "We did grant approval for that, quite obviously."

Should Simon's departure report is true, he will join his "Idol" fellow judge Paula Abdul who confirmed in August that she would not return to the show. At the time, she wrote in her Twitter page, "With sadness in my heart, I've decided not to return to #IDOL. I'll miss nurturing all the new talent, but most of all ... being a part of a show that I helped from day1become an international phenomenon."

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