ABC’s American Idol lands in NZ

American Idol’s Lionel Richie, Katy Perry, Ryan Seacrest and Luke Bryan

New Zealand-based broadcaster MediaWorks has picked up rights to the rebooted version of American Idol, which debuted on ABC this month.

Mediaworks’ network Three will air the 16th season of the show from April 3 on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.

The show aired for 15 seasons on Fox in the US until 2016, with ABC picking up rights from FremantleMedia North America last year. The Alphabet network’s series is hosted by Ryan Seacrest, with music icons Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan serving as judges.

American Idol, which previously aired on Three prior to its US network switch, premiered in the US in 2002. It is based on the UK format created by Simon Fuller.