You might think that Simon Cowell already rules the world. In fact, he’s just getting started. Here in the UK, Cowell is already the undisputed king of reality TV crooning. After proving the star turn on Pop Idol (2001-2003), where Cowell was the judge with the cattiest quips, he realised that the big (or rather bigger) money was in making the programmes.

So after quitting Pop Idol, and settling out of court with the man behind it, Spice Girls’ manager Simon Fuller, Cowell launched The X Factor. As you’re probably aware, it proved something of a success. Now, however, Cowell is attempting a similar land-grab in the United States. Earlier this year he handed in his notice as a judge on American Idol, itself a spin-off from Fuller’s Pop Idol format which was dipping in the ratings even before Cowell’s departure.

Next year he will unleash The X Factor on America. It is scheduled to air on the Fox network in September 2011. Aside from the issue of who will join Cowell on the judging panel, there are rumours that the British and American X Factors could ultimately merge, forming one globe-straddling singing contest, perhaps based in Las Vegas.

With ratings flagging for American Idol, cynics have suggested that the arrival of a remarkably similar import from the UK, which doesn’t contain the word “America” in the title, is likely to fall on deaf ears. Pah. Fat chance. If there’s one thing that the rise and rise of reality TV has taught us over last 10 years it is: never bet against Simon Cowell. Resistance is futile.