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X Factor 'could be broadcast on different channel' if ITV deal fails

Claims that Simon Cowell's show will be 'rested' to make way for The Voice on ITV have been fiercely denied amid warnings that Cowell would simply take it elsewhere

Rita Ora, Nick Grimshaw, Cheryl Fernandez-Versini, Simon Cowell, Caroline Flack and Olly Murs of the X-Factor
Rita Ora, Nick Grimshaw, Cheryl Fernandez-Versini, Simon Cowell, Caroline Flack and Olly Murs of the X-Factor Credit: Photo: ITV

The X Factor could be broadcast on a different channel next year if ITV opts to replace it with The Voice, it has emerged.

ITV was said to be planning to "rest" Simon Cowell's long-running show after a particularly difficult series, with ratings dropping to a low of 5.39 million.

Reports suggested it wouldl be taken off air in 2017 to make way for The Voice, which ITV bought from the BBC in a multi-million pound deal.

Such a move would coincide with the expiration this year of ITV's contract for both The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent, with renegotiations reportedly yet to begin.

But a spokesman for Cowell’s record label Syco denied the reports, telling The Telegraph: “X Factor will not be rested in 2017.”

"[ITV] will rest the X Factor for 2017 because there is no way they can run two singing contests and BGT in the same year."
TV source

A source said that contract negotiations with ITV for 2017 were about to begin, warning that if the channel did not want to renew its deal, others would snap it up.

"If ITV wanted to buy it and rest it for a year, the deal would simply not be signed," the source said.

"If ITV didn't want it, somebody else most certainly would."

The Voice judges (L-R) Will.i.am, Paloma Faith, Ricky Wilson and Boy George

In September, Richard Holloway, X Factor's executive producer, admitted that the series had a "finite lifespan"and could be rested and brought back.

Three months later, Louisa Johnson, the X Factor winner, entered the UK charts at number nine: the worst performance from a winner's single in the show's 11-year history.

The final was its least watched final ever, with an audience of 8.2million, down more than a million from the previous year's finale and barely half the audience who tuned in for the most watched final in 2009, which had 15.6million viewers.

An ITV spokesman said: "The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent contracts come up for renewal after the last series airs later this year and we will be sitting down to discuss new deals for 2017 and beyond in the near future."