Google may give its television ambitions a much-needed jolt by teaming up with Simon Fuller, the British entrepreneur behind the Spice Girls and “American Idol.”
The Internet giant has been in talks with Fuller for about a year about a pact that it believes could revolutionize the way entertainment and music are distributed, London’s Observer newspaper reported yesterday, citing sources close to the entertainment mogul.
“It’s a big idea on a global scale,” one source told the paper. “It will change television in much the way iTunes changed the way music is disseminated.”
Google’s Google Video, which offers full-length TV shows and pay-per-view movies, has been a big disappointment – especially compared to the company’s wildly successful acquisition of video-file-sharing site YouTube.
Google has signed up content partners such as CBS, maker of the popular “CSI” franchise, and music company Sony BMG. But viewers aren’t smitten.
Fuller is best known overseas for putting together the Spice Girls and for managing soccer superstar David Beckham.
But he’s also a proven TV-programming whiz.
He created Britain’s “Pop Idol” show and its smash hit U.S. spin-off “American Idol,” which is co-hosted by his collaborator and sometimes rival Simon Cowell.
A new Fuller show, “The Next Great American Band,” debuted in the U.S. last month.
Reps from Google didn’t return a request for comment.