American Idol Press Release

Dec 19th, 2002

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

PAULA ABDUL, RANDY JACKSON & SIMON COWELL TO RETURN AS JUDGES ON 'AMERICAN IDOL'

Fourth Judge Expected to Join Panel

Detroit, New York, Atlanta, Nashville, Miami, Austin and Los Angeles To Hold Auditions

Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson will return along with Simon Cowell on the judges' panel for the next AMERICAN IDOL series, expected to debut in the first quarter of 2003. A fourth judge is expected to join the trio and will provide a different and unique perspective to the thousands of auditioning hopefuls.

With a music career boasting record sales of over 30 million, multiple awards including a Grammy Award, as well as two No. 1 albums and six No. 1 singles, Paula Abdul brings an intimate understanding of the artists' perspective to the judges' panel. She returns as America's favorite judge.

Randy Jackson is a Grammy Award-winning 20-year music industry veteran and former A&R executive at MCA Records whose credits include recording, touring and performing with Mariah Carey, Madonna, *NSYNC, Celine Dion and Aretha Franklin. Randy Jackson returns as a judge on American Idol to provide commentary and critique to the superstar hopefuls from a music producer's perspective.

Simon Cowell returns as the judge's chairman. Cowell is well known for his brutal honesty toward the participants and was dubbed Mr. Scowl during his first term as a judge on American Idol. Simon is a multi-hit record producer and head of his own record label, S Records. Simon will work directly with the winner of American Idol.

Ryan Seacrest, popular KYSR/Los Angeles radio station deejay and TV host ("Extra"), will return as a host of AMERICAN IDOL.

The nationwide talent search for the next "American Idol" begins Monday, Oct. 21 in Detroit at the Atheneum Suites Hotel. Other auditions will be held in New York (Oct. 24 at Regent Wall Street Hotel), Atlanta (Oct. 27 at America's Mart) Nashville (Oct. 30 at Nashville Municipal Auditorium) Miami (Nov. 2 at Fontainebleau Hilton Resort), Austin (Nov. 6 at Doubletree Hotel) and LA (Nov. 17 at Renaissance Hollywood Hotel). Auditions begin at 8:00 am.

During the audition process, the panel of judges will evaluate each individual on talent, ability, look and style, and, as part of the show's production, will whittle down the group of thousands of eager contestants to a shortlist of singing hopefuls who will perform on air weekly.

The contestants will face criticism from the panel of judges, but it is ultimately the home viewing audience that will determine if the contestants advance to the next round and possibly stardom. The home audience will vote weekly via phone for their favorite contestant and his or her future status as an AMERICAN IDOL.

Kelly Clarkson was voted the first AMERICAN IDOL in the summer of 2002. Clarkson's double-A- sided single "A Moment Like This" / "Before Your Love" was released on September 17, 2002 and quickly broke Billboard records after jumping from No. 52 to No. 1 on the Billboard Charts.

AMERICAN IDOL is executive produced by Simon Fuller, 19 Television; Cecile Frot-Coutaz, Executive Vice President, FremantleMedia North America Inc.; and Simon Jones, Commercial Director of FremantleMedia's UK production company, Thames Television.

Nigel Lythgoe, Chief Executive, 19 Television and Ken Warwick of FremantleMedia will serve as co-executive producers.

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