Cowell offered £20m X Factor, Got Talent deal

Simon Cowell has been offered a rumoured £20 million by ITV in an attempt to keep The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent on air.

A source told the Daily Telegraph that senior figures at the network hoped to secure the 50-year-old’s allegiance until 2013, after he recently expressed a desire to axe both of his hit programmes to concentrate on the upcoming American version of The X Factor.

“The desire is to pin down three years,” the insider stated. “This could have been sorted out six months ago. We need to know what we’re doing otherwise we will commission alternative products. We can’t be 80% certain of The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent. It appears we have this sort of dance-around most years.”

Cowell is currently understood to be on a £6 million annual deal with ITV.