ITV axes 'new X Factor' talent show Rising Star before series airs
Show was cancelled after receiving poor ratings in Germany and the US
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Your support makes all the difference.ITV has axed new talent show Rising Star before the series even aired.
Tipped as “the new X Factor”, the format sees singers perform behind a screen while viewers vote with a free mobile app in real time.
But the show has been canned pre-transmission after it received poor ratings in the US and Germany.
The decision is thought to have cost ITV £1m after the broadcaster bought the show from the Israeli format owner Keshet International last year.
Rising Star was expected to have aired in the primetime Sunday evening slot that was vacated when Dancing on Ice came to an end after nine series earlier this year.
An ITV spokesman said: “Rising Star is an innovative show and we have enjoyed working on the format with the team.
“However, as a commercial broadcaster, we always need to be as confident as possible about the potential ratings of any new programme format that we have acquired and we have therefore taken the decision not to proceed with plans to broadcast the series on ITV.”
At the Edinburgh TV festival last month, ITV boss Peter Fincham claimed Rising Star was going ahead in the New Year and being stripped across a week.
At the time, he said: “I certainly think it is a risk but I thought it was supposed to be a risk so I am glad we have done it. We will find out in due course of time whether it was the right call.”
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