Simon Cowell is negotiating a deal for at least three more seasons of American Idol, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Executives from CKX, the parent company of Idol co-producer 19 Entertainment, said on an earnings conference call that Cowell is finalizing a deal with Fox to continue on the show. He entered into negotiations with Fox earlier this summer, as he heads into the final year of his current contract. Fox tells EW it has no comment on the report.
“We’ve heard from Fox, who has asked us for approval for Simon Cowell to appear for three more years on Idol,” The Hollywood Reporter quoted CZK CEO Robert Sillerman as saying. “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. We did grant approval for that, quite obviously.”
Well, at least they are keeping the important one…
There really is no show without Simon. He IS Mr. Idol.
As predicted here, all of Simon’s talking about how he might leave AI after this upcoming season was all just a bunch of hooey to try to get more money. I’m just sad that Paula isn’t coming back but Randy is…he adds NOTHING to the show. But, the show is about the singtestants, not the judges nor Ryan.
The show won’t be the same without Paula, but it will be really bad without Simon. I’m glad he’s staying.
C’mon Simon. $100M plus Paula!!!
Quite frankly without Simon there is no American Idol. I would venture to guess that there are as many people who tune it to see his critiques as hear the contestants. Clearly he influences the voting public and rightly so as I think he is the only one who is realistic with his commentary.
Long Live King Simon and all of his court jesters!!!
I’m glad he is staying. He is the second best judge, almost as good as Kara.
Mirror Mirror on the wall! Who’s the fairest judge of them all?
KARA!
This men is so rich i thinks. I saw show with him on the punk’d and he driving bently or rols royse. how much celery he gets in a year? i bet you over 1 million!
With a new contract, he’ll probably buy a new tee shirt.
I hope they offer him enough money. He’s barely gonna make enough this year to pay the bills
I predict that in 30 years time, nobody will remember Clay, Ruben, Taylor, Daughtry, Kris, Adam, Blake, Jordin, the Davids, Kelly, Justin, Fantasia, Diana, Bo, or even Carrie…. ANY of them. Which is unfortunate, because they SHOULD be the stars.
No, in 30 years people will remember the name Simon Cowell. He has become the real American Idol, thanks to this show. Love him or hate him… without him, there is no show. Period.
King of the hill or not…he isn’t worth $45m yearly. Come on everyone, just think about that amount. It’s ridiculous. AI should be ashame not to have Paula back. It’s the beginning of the end. But we all knew that.
ummm. You guys, Simon Cowell was the the one to bring American Idol to America, so of course he is going get a new contract…
I love Simon & would have to say that I probably wouldn’t watch it if he wasn’t on the show, but I am very disappointed they let Paula leave. She balanced out Simon’s harsh comments with her more supportive ones. I don’t much care for Kara because I think she’s a little to blah for AI. Fox may need to do a little back peddling if they want to keep the viewers. If it’s not entertaining, they may lose ratings.