Chief Content Officer Brook Hall told TV Tonight that the cost problem remained despite his enthusiasm for the programme and its audience performance.
“We can’t fund that model, even though it’s one of my favourite shows. It rates really high, great entertainment,” Hall said.
He added that Seven was “not vacating that space”, leaving open its interest in this type of entertainment without announcing another season of Dancing With The Stars.
The show was absent from Seven’s announced 2027 line-up. Hall’s comments explain the financial obstacle, but do not set out a revised format, production agreement or return date.
Hall said wider economic pressure was adding to the challenges of a commercial television business already undergoing structural change.
Viewers are still waiting to learn whether the ballroom competition will return and, if it does, how the network will fund it.