The Financial Times have done a little piece on the Cowell/Fuller/Murdoch triangle. Most of it focusses on the peculiar relationship and the secrecy which surrounds it but they also look at the effect of the Cowell/Fuller split on FOX broadcast network;
Quote:
“The bigger question, adds a person close to the Cowell camp, is how Fox treats the two programmes. “They have more upside with X Factor than with Idol,” he argues. In other words, the network has less to gain from Fuller’s show. Idol’s ratings success over the years strengthened the hand of Fuller and other producers when negotiating with the network for programming that went beyond that contractually agreed. This meant Fox often had to pay top dollar for additional hours.
All that could change, though, thanks to X Factor – particularly if the show is a big hit. “The best thing that is going to happen to X Factor is that Idol negotiates for additional hours,” says the source. “The stronger X Factor is, the more negotiating leverage you have with Idol.” Fox, he says, “will make X Factor a priority and Idol will become something to fill out the schedule”.
Fox declined to comment on its plans for X Factor, or how it would allocate resources. But a source familiar with the production process pointed out that the company had put its money where its mouth is to get Hollywood actress and singer Jennifer Lopez and Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler on board as judges. “Fox is paying what it paid to Cowell,” the source said, pointing out that Cowell was one of the best paid stars on US television. “Why pay so much if they expected it to fail?”
But the new judges have big shoes to fill – and it is unclear if they will be as big a hit with viewers. “I don’t get the new judges,” says the media executive who worked with Cowell and Fuller on Idol. “In almost all of these shows, celebrity is not the dominant factor. What matters is how good they are in front of the camera … the idea that getting some has-beens in as judges will work is totally wrong.”
The source with ties to the new US version of X Factor agrees. “The new Idol line-up sucks. Steven Tyler was a huge star, but my kids don’t know who he is. And J-Lo can’t get arrested these days.”
Publicly, Fox has been very enthusiastic about the new Idol series. But word is that behind the scenes Peter Rice, entertainment chairman of Fox Broadcasting, has cooled on the show. “He wasn’t as enthusiastic about it as he was when he first came into the job,” a TV executive told me.”
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/3b1653a0-d...44feabdc0.html
It's quite an unusual situation that FOX find them in. While they aren't really paying as much as they paid Cowell (J'Lo is on $12m according to Deadline - Cowell took home $36m), they do seem to be giving it a real push and allowing to push into "X Factor territory". They've got Jimmy Iovine "mentoring" the acts, they've lowered the age limit to 16 and are hinting at more on stage movement from the contestants (whether that means full blown choreography, I'm not sure).
And then there's the risk that this time next year, FOX have a weakened American Idol and X Factor bombs. I just can't see XF reaching the kind of ratings that Idol had last season - nothing will ever come close again with the way US TV is.
for Channel 4, pitiful figure for Comedy Roast.
(5:30pm on C5).
