Seven Network announces fifth season of A Place to Call Home
Partnering with Foxtel the Seven Network has confirmed the signing of the fifth season of A Place to Call Home.
The announcement:
Seven confirms new series of A Place To Call Home for Foxtel Commissioning builds on Seven’s momentum in creation of new content in Australian and international markets The Seven Network – Australia’s most-watched broadcast television platform and a key business of Seven West Media, one of Australia’s leading integrated media and content creation companies – today confirmed the signing of an agreement with Foxtel for a new series of Seven Productions’ A Place To Call Home.
This will be the fifth series for A Place To Call Home. A Place To Call Home and Home and Away are two of Seven Productions’ most successful drama series seen around the world.
My Kitchen Rules – another Seven Productions creation – is seen in 160 territories and will launch a “local version” next January in primetime on FOX, one of the “big four” networks in the United States. My Kitchen Rules has also recently launched on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom.
These significant commissions signal Seven’s next move in its long-term strategy in the development and creation of market-leading content.
Commenting, Therese Hegarty, Seven’s Director of Content Distribution and Rights said: “We take great pride in A Place To Call Home. It is a clear indication of the future for Seven Productions. We are now creating more content than at any time in our history and expanding our presence in international content production. We look forward to further dramatically expanding our content creation and production over the coming twelve months.”
Commenting, Julie McGuaran, Head of Drama for Seven, said: “All of us at Seven Productions are delighted to take A Place To Call Home to a new series. It is a highly successful collaboration between Seven Productions and Foxtel and we take great pride in the programme. A Place To Call Home is a powerful and highly acclaimed series and a testament to our ongoing commitment to creating, producing and delivering world class drama programming.”
Leadership in Content
Driving Seven’s development is its acknowledged strengths in content creation. Seven is a recognised as a leader in the development and production of Australian television. We are driving our own future with the programmes and content we create and leverage, and we are making deliberate and considered moves into new opportunities not only for our own primary market in Australia but increasingly in international markets.
This year, Seven Productions will commission, create and produce nearly 700 hours of television as an acknowledged leader in the production of scripted, entertainment, reality, observational documentaries and children’s programming – with major projects including My Kitchen Rules, Border Security, House Rules, Home and Away, and A Place to Call Home.
Seven’s scripted series A Place To Call Home soon commences its new season on Foxtel and our partnership with Foxtel is an important cornerstone in the continuing rapid development of our production business and builds on the international success of our programmes. Home and Away is now seen in more than 70 international markets including Channel 5 in the UK. My Kitchen Rules is now in production in a number of international territories including the key markets of the USA and the UK and will soon launch in New Zealand.
Home and Away
We are also expanding our presence in international content production with the formation of two new production companies: 7 Wonder and 7 Beyond. These two new businesses underline a key part of our strategy for today and in the future: the expansion of our presence in the production of content.
7 Beyond is now in production of a new season of My Lottery Dream Home for HGTV in the US market. More than 13 million viewers tuned in to the first season of the series. The 10 episode second season is due to premiere in January 2017. 7 Wonder has secured a raft of new commissions in the UK market that include a local version of My Kitchen Rules and Over My Dead Body for Channel 4 and Back to the Land for BBC2.
Seven also has a major shareholding in UK-based scripted specialists, Slim Film + Television, the company behind critically acclaimed drama Legacy (BBC) and award-winning comedy The Art of Foley and founded by multi-award winning producer Simon Crawford Collins (Spooks, Ashes to Ashes, Hustle). Grace: A Storytelling Company, Thunderbird Beyond Screen Production and Seven Network Australia have also joined forces to produce Beat Bugs. Seen in international markets on Netflix, Beat Bugs is a world first, created by Josh Wakely, following a deal with Sony ATV Music Publishing Australia for worldwide rights to record covers of the Beatles song catalogue for this production.
These developments in major international markets confirm our success in production and underline most importantly how our people are driving a growth business for Seven Productions. This business is expanding dramatically. A key focus for us is taking our ideas and our content further into international markets with Seven Productions, 7 Wonder and 7 Beyond, Slim Film + Television and the formation of Seven Productions New Zealand.
