New York Daily News

The price Simon Cowell charges Fox to rent his razor tongue is about to go up. Again.

With one year left on his contract as the anchor judge for Fox's all-conquering "American Idol," Cowell told London's Mirror this weekend that he's wearing down from commuting to the colonies.

Therefore, he said, he may leave "Idol" when his current contract expires at the end of the 2010 competition.

"Right now, the only certainty is that I'm still on 'Idol,' still love doing it, and still have a year under contract," he said in a statement late yesterday. "So, while I am looking at all options for the future, I haven't made any decisions."

Maybe he means it, too.

But based on his own history, and the broader history of human contract negotiations, he could just as easily be sending the message that Fox has to make it really, really worth his while to stay.

Cowell currently is seen on "Idol" and two British TV shows, "X Factor" and "Britain's Got Talent." This means four transatlantic flights a week in the summer, which he told the Mirror is getting old.

So if one show may have to go, the 49-year-old Brit told the Mirror, then "I guess America is more likely."

After all, he noted, he also has a record label and a TV production company that's debuting a mysterious new show next year, so those also need his time.

Before Paula Abdul starts planning his "Idol" retirement party, however, it should be remembered that Cowell says things like this every time a contract is coming up, and sometimes when it isn't.

He expressed similar sentiments before he signed his last deal in November 2005, though he was more annoyed then that his record company didn't have first refusal rights to the "Idol" winner and runnerup.

In the end, he got those rights back. He also got a reported $8 million a year and a higher percentage of "Idol" profits, reportedly 30%-40% of them.
This suggests his employers try hard to accommodate him, and for good reason: "American Idol" makes buckets of money for everyone, and Cowell is clearly the most important single component.

He's the defining voice, the first name people associate with the show. After a contestant performs, Cowell's is the assessment everyone wants to hear.

"Idol" can replace Randy's "Yo Dawg, check it out." It got along without Kara. Paula's quirky, but someone else can say, "You really blossomed tonight; you're the best singer since Cher; we love you."

The show could replace Ryan by throwing a pebble out the window and hiring whomever it hit.

They could all leave and it would be the same show. If Cowell left, it wouldn't. Not just because the villain is the key figure in almost every drama, but because his style, that balance of reasoned remarks and insults, smiles and daggers, would become the standard for his replacement.

A new Cowell would be a huge gamble, at a time when "Idol" already faces the growing challenge each year of being measured against its own past.
If Cowell really does plan to walk, let's bet Fox will try to block the door with a tall stack of cash and considerations.

And that Cowell will at least, Yo Dawg, check it out.