Simon Cowell is not worried about 'The X Factor' going up against 'Strictly Come Dancing'.
Simon Cowell
The TV judge insisted he isn't anxious about competing with the popular prime time BBC One competition in the ratings after hearing the line-up, which includes Peter Andre and Jeremy Vine.
Asked if he was worried about going head-to-head with the show at the launch of 'The X Factor' at London's Picturehouse Central cinema, he said: "I hate to say yes because I know what will happen if I say yes, it will come back and haunt me ... I think the show, just watching it back, it does feel better. The talent's great, they're interesting ... So if it's us versus Peter Andre, I've got to put my money on us."
Meanwhile, ITV's director of programmes Peter Fincham has criticised the BBC for scheduling 'Strictly' to overlap with 'The X Factor' in the past as it forces viewers to choose between the popular programmes.
Speaking at the Edinburgh Television Festival, he said: "They [The BBC] moved 'Strictly' 20 minutes later. I don't know why they did that, no reason for doing that but that feels to me like an avoidable clash. It feels to me a bit like 'let's clip the 'X Factor's wings'.
"What we're going to do is literally publish the 'X Factor' start times [for] this autumn ... because all the evidence we have is that our audiences don't want the two to overlap."
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