Will there be a Sunday X Factor this year? No

7th June: Is there going to be a Sunday X Factor this year? ITV chiefs want the results to be screened on Sunday evenings to attract viewers to its schedules on Sundays as well as Saturdays.

But as ad revenues at ITV are crumbling it wants to save money by recording the show on Saturday evenings after sending the judges and contestants off to change their clothes. If they all come back each Sunday it will cost ITV another £500,000 each time.

But Simon Cowell knows that the results will be leaked on the web if the results are known a day before the broadcast - and is keen for the show to be recorded live. Simon is the professional. The executives at ITV are the short-sighted bean counters - the same people who have presided over the decline in ITV's programming, audiences and fortunes over the past decade.

The chances are that Simon will not back off and will demand a solution which keeps the integrity of his format intact. Expect the results show to be aired on Saturday evenings again this year.

30th July: There will be no Sunday results show for The X Factor this year. As we said on 7th June Simon Cowell would not let the Sunday show be recorded as the results would have been leaked on the web.

The extra cost of showing the results live on Sundays would be £500,000 each week and ITV would not pay any more, although they were happy to broadcast the show on Sundays if it was recorded the day before. The results show will continue to be shown live on Saturday evenings.

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