Simon Cowell facing financial loss over Arabic Pop Idol scrapping

London, May 25 : Simon Cowell is facing a multi-million-pound loss due to the axing of a Middle East version of Pop Idol following a terrorist attack in Lebanon.

The music mogul is set to miss out on revenue from Superstar, which was taken off air halfway through its fifth series when its studios in Beirut were blown up.

Though Cowell doesn't have a direct role in the show, it is a spin-off from the Pop Idol format produced by his and Simon Fuller's 19 Management.

Last week, Arabic militant group Hezbollah targetted Superstar, which is broadcast worldwide on satellite channel Future TV.

Now the show is set to be axed permanently after the terrorists threatened to target anyone who tried to televise it.

"Superstar is as big in the Middle East as American Idol is in America," the Daily Star quoted a source, as saying.

"It brings in millions of pounds every year and although Simon Cowell is not directly involved it is a project which would have yielded him money," the source added.

ANI