Cowell bolsters ties with Murdochs for new TV shows

by Sam Matthews,, Brand Republic 02-Feb-05, 13:40

LONDON - Simon Cowell is hooking up with Rupert Murdoch's daughter Elisabeth to co-produce a new 'high-concept game show' with her independent production company Shine.

Cowell said in an interview with The Guardian today he befriended Murdoch after her father Rupert took a "£10m gamble" and bought 'American Idol' for his Fox TV station.

Murdoch's indie Shine, which makes programming for Sky One, where she used to work, including supernatural series 'Hex', is worth more than £40m.

Cowell, who has made his name giving wannabe singers acid-tongued put-downs TV talent contests like 'Pop Idol', also revealed he is planning to launch five new TV shows across the UK and US.

He remained tight-lipped on formats, only admitting one was a "huge game show" and others were "reality TV shows".

Last year, it was revealed Cowell's indie Syco was in the process of making a record industry version of 'The Apprentice', starring Cowell in the position of Donald Trump, mentoring aspiring music moguls.

Cowell also hinted in a TV interview last year he has a lot of respect for glamour model Jordan and wants to use her in a reality show.

So far Cowell has judged two series of 'Pop Idol', four series of 'American Idol' and once on his own Syco production 'X Factor', which has already been recommissioned by ITV for a second outing.

Cowell has big plans for the future: "If I look at the past I am on 5% of what I want to achieve," he said in the interview.

He also hopes to turn his reported £30m fortune into £100m "in a few years' time."

Cowell, dubbed "Mr Nasty", also admitted to receiving 500 hate emails during 'American Idol' but was not worried because it represented only a small proportion of his 55m US viewers.

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