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Simon Cowell in $45m Idol deal

Paula or no Paula, Simon Cowell is set to be a judge on American Idol for at least three more seasons.

simon-cowell1Simon Cowell is set to be a judge on American Idol for at least three more seasons, with news he is finalising a deal with FOX.

Cowell, heading into the final year of his current Idol contract, previously hinted that he might leave the show at the end of his deal. But money talks, right Simon?

“We’ve heard from FOX, who has asked us for approval for Simon Cowell to appear for three more years on Idol, ” 19 Entertainment’s Robert Sillerman said. “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.”

A $45 million deal would be up from $36 million a year under his current contract.

The news follows the exit of Paula Abdul who reportedly was seeking more than $10 million a year and was offered about half that.

Ryan Seacrest recently signed a three-year, $45 million deal with 19 which has denied the deal is just for Idol, with his production company set for further projects.

Meanwhile, Victoria Beckham recently did a judging stint at auditions but was said to come across as icy cold….

Source: Hollywood Reporter

8 Responses

  1. They don’t pay Paula just 10 million, they said she wanted 10 more million but they only offered her 5…

    I personally don’t see why they’re paying Seacrest so much. Any idiot in Hollywood could come and do what he does. No one watches Idol to see Seacrest. Simon…is different because as evil as he may be, he’s entertaining, and the crowds do love him (if you noticed he got the most applause last season) and he’s always generating controversy.

  2. Stewie, what the hell do you mean, can’t spot talent? He did his job – he got her to the top 24 – The public voted her out!!! Spotting talent has nothing to do with it… and besides, she was actually pretty averageduring that particular season of idol, and deserved to go when she did.

  3. People tune in to see Simon, why should faceless executives get all the cash? He wouldn’t be paid the money if they couldn’t afford it and they didn’t think he was worth it (or, more honestly, that it was a little bit less than he was worth as that’s how these things usually work).

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