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You thought it was dead but Simon Cowell’s DJ talent show is back, thanks to Yahoo!

By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 28 April 2015

After several years in on-off production, it seems that Simon Cowell’s DJ talent show is actually going to make it to the screen. Or, specifically, Yahoo! Screen.

At the NewFront marketing conference yesterday, Yahoo! announced plans for various new shows to add to its roster of original programming, amongst them ‘Ultimate DJ’, which is described as “the World Cup of EDM”.

The show is being co-produced by Syco’s Cowell and Kelly Belldegrun, and Ultra Records’ Patrick Moxey – previous partnerships with Overbrook Entertainment and SFX Entertainment having fallen through – and will see ‘EDM’ DJs compete for a record deal with Ultra.

“I have always been excited to be involved in a show where you have the chance to discover a star”, said Cowell in a statement. “And to do that, I know from experience you need great partners and the rest will follow. We’re excited to be partnering with Patrick Moxey of Ultra Records and Hamish Hamilton of Done and Dusted to bring this series to Yahoo”.

Moxey added: “Ultra Records has broken many of the biggest electronic DJ artists of today and we’re thrilled to be a part of this series for Yahoo! to bring the newest electronic music DJ artists to a massive audience”.

All voting on the show will take place through Tumblr, the blogging platform Yahoo! acquired in 2013. “It’s yet another example of the growing convergence and synergies we are finding between the two platforms”, said Yahoo! Chief Marketing Officer Kathy Savitt of this ‘innovation’.

Yahoo! also announced the renewal of its concert streaming deal with Live Nation, adding five festivals to its daily live music streams.