American Idol (season 7) American Idol (season 7) The seventh season of "American Idol", the annual reality show and singing competition, began on January 15, 2008 and concluded on May 21, 2008. Ryan Seacrest continued to host the show with Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson returning as judges. David Cook was announced the winner of the competition on May 21, 2008, defeating runner-up David Archuleta by a margin of roughly 12 million votes out of over 97 million, which was at that time the highest recorded vote total ever recorded in the show's history. The split was 56% to 44%. The seventh
American Idol Rewind group of stations), the program formerly aired nationally over cable channel Superstation WGN/WGN America. Starting Fall 2008, "American Idol Rewind" started airing encores a week later on TV Guide Network. Until December 2007, "Rewind" was syndicated by Tribune Entertainment, which began a quick departure from the industry on December 18, 2007 as part of Tribune Company's oncoming bankruptcy. () As a result, its programs were being forced to find new distributors for their shows. Almost immediately after the closedown, American Idol's producers, FremantleMedia, transferred syndication and distribution to Trifecta Entertainment & Media. The first season highlighted the same season of