The executive tasked with getting Simon Cowell’s “X Factor” off the ground in the US is quitting after less than a year on the job.
Ellis Watson, the chief executive of Syco, co-owned by Cowell and Sony Music Television, has decided he doesn’t want to head to Hollywood after all.
Watson said his family doesn’t want to make the move to Los Angeles from Scotland.
“Rodeo Drive isn’t quite ready for my Highland cattle,” he quipped in a story to the British press.
Syco has been expanding so rapidly that Watson is said to have had trouble balancing job demands with his family’s needs.
Cowell is in high gear preparing for the fall launch of “X Factor” on Fox, which also airs “American Idol.”
News Corp. owns Fox and The Post.
Syco is behind two British shows, “The X Factor,” and “Britain’s Got Talent,” which launched the career of singer Susan Boyle.
It’s unclear if Cowell is searching for a replacement. Watson joined the firm in April after a career in newspapers and TV.
He previously sold the format to Celador’s “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”
At the time of his hiring, Watson said the gig was “the most exciting job in entertainment anywhere in the world — it’s not a vocation, it’s a calling.”
Speculation as to the judges for “X Factor” has run the gamut of big names from Mick Jagger to Universal Def Jam label chief L.A. Reid.
A Sony Music rep declined comment. catkinson@nypost.com