LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) — Producers Freemantle Media and Core Media Group have reportedly struck a deal with broadcaster ABC to revive the long-running singing competition "American Idol."
According to Variety, ABC is considering a March 2018 re-launch for the program, helping them to compete with NBC's “Sunday Night Football” and programming on Fox and CBS that has benefited from NFL lead-in from earlier in the day.
Still undecided is who would host the show. Ryan Seacrest, who made a name for himself hosting the show's original iteration on Fox, was recently announced as the host of ABC syndicated morning program “Live!” with Kelly Ripa, Variety reported.
"Idol", which debuted in 2002 on Fox, ran for 15 seasons and for almost a decade, was the highest rated show on television, peaking its popularity in 2006 with an average of 36.4 million total viewers, according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day numbers.
However, the show's popularity faded and by 2016, its average viewers had slipped to 9.1 million viewers during its final season. – Staff Writers
