Channel 7 has confirmed one of its longest-running and most reliable entertainment brands won’t return in 2027.
The reason is blunt and revealing: the network says it simply can’t fund it.
Seven’s chief content officer Brook Hall told industry outlet TV Tonight that Dancing With The Stars is off the 2027 slate for the second consecutive year. “Dancing with the Stars, we can’t fund that model, even though it’s one of my favourite shows. It rates really high, great entertainment,”
The Australian version of the celebrity ballroom competition has a long history on Seven, running regularly from 2004 through 2015 (sometimes with two seasons in a year), then returning in 2019 and continuing annually through to 2025. It has consistently delivered high ratings and the kind of light, feel-good television that stands out in the schedule mixing celebrities learning to dance with professional partners, elaborate costumes, live performances and the weekly drama of the scores and eliminations. Plus the contnet allowed for clips and videos to spread online years after an episode would air.
Hall has framed the environment as similar to pressures facing banks and tech companies, saying the network is trying to be “more sensible” and contract to its “core.” He noted that the overseas entertainment budget has been particularly “hammered” and that some big, flashy short-run shows have fallen away. Local entertainment spend has been protected in aggregate, according to the network, but that has not been enough to keep Dancing With The Stars on air.
Hall’s says the network is “not vacating that space”
For many who have followed the series across its many seasons will find another year without it disappointing. The channel still hosts the 1% Club, Stacks of Cash, Idol, Farmer, MKR, Celebrity Intervention and many more quality shows.
Plus sports and entertainment areas “have not gone down”
Fans will also get I’m a celebrity get me out of here with the network promising some fresh twists for its debut on the channel. With both Ricki-Lee and Jim Jefferies hosting the show it’s looking like a positive new addition to the network with lots of excitement around the upcoming new season.
