Never mind that the ballots were cast for contestants in a televised singing competition, and that only those with the means to send text messages by mobile phone could take part.

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He's not interested in conforming to a mainstream standard and was hell-bent on avoiding what he called "the karaoke culture" of "American Idol, " "The X Factor" and other programs in which singing is a competition for the mass taste.

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Buckle up for beauty and some fresh pop tunes from the UK. British papers are reporting the UK sweetheart Cole is being offered a mega opportunity by the music svengali to join him in the U.S. on Fox as a judge on the panel of his new singing competition X Factor.

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One performance strikes some sparks, if only in spurts: Mandy Moore's Sally, a small-town girl who emerges as Omer's main singing competition on the show.

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After the singing competition shed another 9% of its viewership last year, a slide often attributed to lackluster talent and a largely checked-out Cowell, the overhaul is necessary.

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Nor is it known how it might affect NBC's singing talent competition, "The Voice, " on which Armstrong had been slated to be a mentor to participants.

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What's more, even with sagging ratings--Idol averaged some 25 million viewers this season, down from 30 million three years ago--the singing competition continues to catapult its host network to No. 1 among viewers aged 18 to 49, a demographic advertisers pay a premium to reach.

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