A blockbuster deal will keep Simon Cowell on “American Idol” – and will keep the show on Fox for the next five years.

“I had to ask myself if I could do this until 2010,” Cowell told The Post yesterday.

Cowell’s new deal could pay him in the neighborhood of $50 million, according to industry sources.

“There were two considerations: Number one, will I get on with the people I’m working with and, number two, can we maintain the success,” Cowell said.

“And I kind of thought yes to both.”

Cowell agreed to return to the Fox talent show just a day after it was reported that he and “Idol” creator Simon Fuller resolved their $175 million legal dispute with an out-of-court settlement.

Fuller had sued Cowell, claiming Cowell’s U.K. hit, “The X Factor,” was an “Idol” ripoff.

As part of the settlement, Fuller now has part ownership of “The X Factor.”

“We had to bring some stability to this because it just seemed crazy, me and [Fuller] being at loggerheads – amazingly, we’ve remained friends through this,” said Cowell, who declined to say how much his new deal was worth.

“It was a good deal,” he said.

Among the sticking points during the negotiations was Cowell’s right to sign “Idol” winners to exclusive record deals on the label he operates for Sony BMG.

He now retains those rights through 2010.

Other aspects of Cowell’s new contract include a production deal with Fox for at least two new shows. One of those shows will be a U.S. version of “The X Factor.”

In conjunction with Cowell’s new deal, Fox picked up “Idol” for five years yesterday, agreeing to pay the show’s producers, 19 Entertainment, a whopping $166.5 million.

That’s just for the TV show. This doesn’t include 19 Entertainment’s money derived from the series’ Web site, telephone voting system and other merchandising.

“I said to Simon yesterday that we all knew this was an eventuality,” said Robert Sillerman, chairman and CEO of 19’s parent company, CKX. “It was just a question of getting people to focus their attention on it.”

Cowell had turned the lawsuit into a roadblock for his new “Idol” deal, refusing to re-sign until the suit was settled.

He was reportedly being paid at least $8 million a year for “Idol.”

don.kaplan@nypost.com