Simon Cowell has said that his plan for a global version of his Got Talent show could become a reality in the near future.

The Britain's Got Talent and X Factor boss has sold the variety show contest to 147 territories already and has talked in the past about his plans to do a worldwide version, but has now revealed the programme could be just around the corner.

According to The Independent, he told the Mipcom television conference in Cannes of his plans for a worldwide show: "That is something we have been thinking of for more than three years - a long, long time - and I think it is going to get easier, not harder."

He added that it was unlikely to be a global X Factor because a worldwide Idol competition had fallen flat before: " There were something like 16 judges on that show, so the judging took about half an hour on each act, and every one of them had been put on the show to be the equivalent of me. It was 'who could be ruder' each time. It was just a disaster.

"The Got Talent [format] would be the most obvious one to start with. We'll definitely be in that space sooner rather than later."

Each country would pick their best act to put into the show, which would then be whittled down by judges to the acts performing in a grand final, in a similar style to the Eurovision Song Contest.

Simon also revealed that his company Syco Entertainment was developing a new series to run exclusively on a web streaming service: "We are going to announce something soon that is going to be a big show, not on a cable network, not on a major network, and I think it is a bit of a game changer because the market has suddenly just got bigger.

"I think House Of Cards [Kevin Spacey's Netflix drama] was part of the reason, because people now have confidence that you don't have to be a broadcaster to make money on these types of things. Inevitably those kinds of people will want entertainment shows as well."