Simon Cowell has sealed his status as the ultimate X Factor winner through a series of deals worth tens of millions of pounds.

Cowell is poised to sign agreements with the Fox Broadcasting Company and ITV that will secure his place on primetime television in Britain and the US for the next two years.

He is considering standing down from American Idol, which appears on the Fox network in the US, after its next season. The X Factor is due to begin filming in Los Angeles in September 2011, to be shown on Fox and presented by Cowell.

In addition, Cowell has renegotiated his deal with Sony, the music giant that has insisted on a direct relationship with him, bypassing his adviser Philip Green.

Philip, the owner of Topshop, has been acting as Cowell's negotiator since April. The two men discussed setting up a global entertainment company to take back the rights to The X Factor from Sony, its current owner.

Greenwell Entertainment, as it was tentatively known, aimed to take The X Factor to Las Vegas, develop new shows and release branded products including theme parks, video games and ringtones.

But sources close to the negotiations said that Sony objected to Green's involvement. The new contract will be with Cowell alone, they said.

Sony executives have known Cowell since 1989 when he joined the BMG record label, which later merged with Sony.

But Green, who is Britain's sixth-richest person, with a personal fortune of £3.8bn (€4.2bn), reportedly found it difficult to form constructive relationships with Howard Stringer, Sony's chairman and chief executive, and Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, the head of Sony Music Entertainment.

"Philip's a strong, forthright man and Sony has never had to deal with him before, so that created some understandable tension," one person close to Cowell and Green said.

Asked whether the Topshop owner would continue to act as a negotiator but would be excluded from any partnership deal with Sony, one person close to negotiations said: "That seems to be an elegant way of putting it."

Green will remain involved in Cowell's business through MaidMetal, a holding company controlled by Cowell in which Green will take a stake and which may contract with Sony, sources said.

Relations between Sony and Green are now cordial, both sides insist, and he continues to lead negotiations for Cowell with both ITV and Fox, which is owned by News Corporation.

Six weeks ago, Peter Rice, the new overseer of Fox's primetime line-up, flew to London to meet Cowell and Green. It was there, at the Dorchester Hotel, that Cowell told Rice that he was considering not presenting American Idol into 2012.

Cowell is currently paid about £22m (€24.6m) a year by Fox to act as a judge on American Idol, which is owned by Cowell's fellow music and TV producer Simon Fuller. For the past five years it has been the most successful TV show in America.

If Cowell switches from American Idol to presenting The X Factor in America, it would mark the end of his long commercial relationship with Fuller.

All the deals are expected to be signed early next year. Sony, Fox, Green and Cowell all declined to comment.

hnews@herald.ie

- Alexi Mostrous