Pop Idol guru Simon Fuller to launch new firm

Pop Idol creator Simon Fuller intends to set up a new entertainment and film company, raising questions about his plans for his London firm 19 Entertainment and commitment to the hit TV show American Idol.

Fuller indicated that the new firm would be separate from 19 Entertainment and its US-listed parent company CKX, the maker of American Idol, which has started careers of artists such as singer Katharine McPhee, who has just released her second album Unbroken in the US.

He said: "I want to build a new company and do great things. I don't want to run somebody else's company."

Fuller said that his relationship with 19 and CKX would remain "very close".

The 19 chief executive sold out to CKX in 2005 but the parent company's fortunes have struggled.

19 generated three quarters of CKX's revenues in the first nine months of 2009. But American Idol's audiences have fallen for the third year in a row, and Simon Cowell said this week he was quitting as a presenter to bring rival show X Factor to America next year.