The X Factor and American Idol: who owns what

Simon Fuller, who created the Spice Girls and dreamt up Pop Idol , which became American Idol, owns the rights to American Idol and reportedly offered Simon Cowell "Oprah money" to stay on the show, which Cowell rejected. The two worked together on the original Pop Idol series in Britain in 2001 but had a disagreement over The X Factor, which replaced Pop Idol on ITV. Fuller claimed that The X Factor has stolen parts of the Pop Idol format and took legal action. In a 2005 settlement , Fuller acquired a stake in the X Factor format and Cowell agreed to continue to appear on American Idol. In 2005 Cowell signed five-year output deals with Fox and SonyBMG , due to expire at the end of the year, while his three-year golden handcuffs with ITV expired at the end of last year. Sony owns the international rights to The X Factor, which is a co-production between Cowell's company Syco and Talkback Thames in Britain. The X Factor is shown in 28 countries. In America it will be a co-production between Syco and Talkback's parent, Fremantle Media North America. Cowell has also set up an international production company with Philip Green to develop new TV formats. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. • If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".