Fox Announces Sponsors for the Next American Idol

Fox Broadcasting Company (FOX), 19 Entertainment and FremantleMedia announced the sponsors for the sixth season of American Idol, which returns Tuesday, Jan. 16 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) and Wednesday, Jan. 17 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. Last season, American Idol-Tuesday and American Idol-Wednesday ranked as the No. 1 and No. 2 programs of the season (out of 200 regular series on the 6-nets) among Adults 18-49, Adults 18-34 and Teens, and did so for 19 consecutive weeks.

FOX, 19 Entertainment and FremantleMedia Licensing Worldwide have re-teamed with Ford Motor Company, Coca-Cola and Cingular Wireless as official sponsors of this year's American Idol.

Season Six of American Idol marks the return of Ford as a major sponsor. Ford has been a leading supporter of American Idol since the show's debut in 2002 and will continue to have a strong presence throughout the upcoming season. Ford vehicles and the Top 12 American Idol contestants will again be featured in exclusive Ford music videos. In addition, Ford will launch a unique consumer promotion that will offer a chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime American Idol experience. American Idol will serve as the key platform to integrate a variety of Ford vehicles, including the new Ford Edge, plus the Fusion, Escape Hybrid and Mustang. Ford will also give the American Idol winner, as well as the runner-up, keys to a new Ford Mustang. Ford is the Official Automotive Sponsor of the show.

For 2007, Coca-Cola will be serving up programs and content designed to bring fans closer to the American Idol experience. Through My Coke Rewards, viewers will be able to submit questions to be posed live on-air by host Ryan Seacrest to the Top 12 contestants. Each week the Idols will be asked selected questions from those entered online at www.mycokerewards.com. At www.americanidol.com, fans will have the chance to submit designs for a new version of the familiar judges' cups that will appear during an episode later in the season. The website will also feature exclusive behind-the-scenes video and photos of the contestants at work and play, presented by Coca-Cola. During the show, contestants will once again hang out in the popular Red Room, while Coca-Cola and My Coke Rewards advertising will air throughout the show. Other activities designed to extend the American Idol experience for consumers will be featured in a variety of retail outlets across the country.

As American Idol's Official Wireless Telecom Sponsor, Cingular Wireless returns ready to connect IDOL fans to their favorite contestants using text, audio and, for the first time, video - all from the mobile phone.

Building on last season's success of generating more than 64.5 million text messages, Cingular will once again enable its customers to use their wireless phones to text-message their votes each week, participate in hosted chats with voted-off Top 12 finalists, test their knowledge with IDOL trivia and personalize their wireless phones with Live Idol Tones - ringtones and Answer Tones of actual Top 12 finalists' performances. Cingular will also feature some exciting new program elements this season, so stay tuned for more details.