MUMBAI: The Rupert Murdoch owned broadcaster Fox in the US will premiere the fourth season of its music based reality show American Idol on 18 January with two back to back episodes..

In Indian the local version Indian Idol is steadily gathering steam on Sony.

Last season 65 million votes were cast in the American Idol finale. Fantasia came out on top joining previous winners Kelly Clarkson and Ruben Studdard.

A few months ago American Idol travelled to seven cities across the US looking for the next singing superstar. Episodes featuring the audition cities of Cleveland, St. Louis, Washington, DC, New Orleans, Orlando, Las Vegas and San Francisco will air in three episodes.

Ryan Seacrest returns as the show's host along with the judges Paula Abdul, the acerbic Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson