New home for A Place to Call Home

Seven had cancelled the series earlier this year after its audience fell to the 1 million-viewer watermark. But in the wake of its cancellation there was a strong backlash from fans of the show.

Fighting to save their beloved series, fans organised protests and online petitions, hoping to change Seven's decision.

However, Foxtel would not confirm that a deal has been done to save the program.

"Foxtel is making no announcements on programming for 2015 until our Upfront [presentation event] on October 30," a spokesman said.

But the deal has been whispered about at the annual television program sales market Mipcom, in Cannes, France, this week. The market is attended by thousands of program buyers from around the world.

Fairfax Media understands the fine print of the deal has taken more than a month to finalise.

It is also understood Foxtel has secured the show's cast for the planned third season. The original series was filmed on location at Camden, on the outskirts of Sydney.

Such a deal for A Place to Call Home - a pay-TV broadcaster effectively picking up the rights to an original free-to-air Australian drama - is unprecedented, although there are past examples of programs changing commercial networks in Australia.

The move seems to follow a growing trend in the international TV market in which pay and digital broadcasters have secured popular programs discarded by free-to-air networks.

The most notable examples include Arrested Development, which was saved by Netflix after US network Fox cancelled it, and Community, which has been saved by Yahoo after US network ABC cancelled it.

In the US, such deals have been seen as advantageous to the buyer because established shows, even those that have lost some audience over time, are seen as less risky ventures than new series.

In the case of A Place to Call Home, the ratings numbers and older-skewing audience profile were clearly issues for Seven.

But Foxtel, which is driven more by subscriptions than actual audience volumes, could make effective use of the series, particularly one with such a vocal and loyal audience.

Seven launched A Place to Call Home in 2013. Set in the years following World War II, it focused on the wealthy Bligh family.

Seven has aired two seasons of the show. Under the Foxtel deal, its creator Bevan Lee would write a third series, produced by Seven Productions but aired on Foxtel. That arrangement effectively positions the Seven Network as a supplier of content to other broadcasters, not just its own channels.

In that sense, it would be the first Australian network to effectively become a US-style studio.

In the US, studios such as ABC Studios and CBS Studios produce content for both their sister channels and rival networks.

Earlier this year, Seven announced a British-based joint-venture, 7Wonder, with British production house Maverick Television.

That followed Seven's launch of a US-based joint venture, 7Beyond, in 2013.

FIVE SHOWS REBORN

Neighbours: Axed by Seven, this series was acquired by Ten and transformed into one TV's longest-running soaps.

Arrested Development: When Fox cancelled this edgy comedy after three seasons, Netflix resurrected it for a fourth season.

A Country Practice: A second Seven-to-Ten acquisition, this was not so successful and was soon axed for a second time.

Community: ‎Cancelled by NBC after five seasons, this comedy was saved for a planned sixth season by Yahoo.

Ripper Street: After it was abandoned after two seasons by the BBC, Amazon Prime has revived this series for a third season.