The rights to air iconic animated show The Simpsons, long a part of Network Ten, have been snapped up by Seven West Media after a deal with Fox.
At a time when Seven is focused on cutting costs, it has bought free-to-air rights for new US shows, including The Simpsons and MASH, in an agreement with the American entertainment company.
It is believed Ten previously paid about $90 million for its contract with Fox, run by Rupert Murdoch and former Ten executive chairman Lachlan Murdoch, though it was aiming to reduce this amount to $45 million. It included a range of animated shows and US TV series.
The contract was terminated in October, ending a more than two-decade run of The Simpsons on the network.
Industry members speculated the Seven deal could be worth up to $40 million, though sources close to the network said it was a much smaller sum with the broadcaster significantly reducing its spend on US content in recent years.
Seven director of network programming Angus Ross said it had "cherry-picked from the Fox library a number of iconic shows ... that are proven and consistent free-to-air performers".
"Seven has no appetite for output agreements and prefers to look for programming gaps in the marketplace and the smart acquisitions to fill them."
The network was pushed to top spot in the 2017 annual ratings by its airing of American medical drama The Good Doctor under a rights deal with Sony.
Mr Ross would not confirm which other shows have been picked up by the network, but there is speculation it might have bought rights for Modern Family, which was in the previous Ten contract, and new medical drama The Resident.
Ten's Fox contract also included the show This Is Us, which it has retained under a new deal. Sources said this agreement was worth under $1 million a year.
It comes after a rocky year for Ten, with the company being taken over by CBS after Ten's creditors, which included employees, unanimously backed its offer in September to take it out of administration. This was despite a rival offer from billionaires Lachlan Murdoch and Bruce Gordon.
A Ten spokesman said the network was "delighted" it had secured rights to This Is Us, along with CBS shows NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles and SEAL Team.
"As a result of our new arrangement with Fox, we will be increasing our already substantial investment in local production across a range of program genres," he said.
Foxtel also secured rights to Fox content including the latest season of The X-Files reboot, though would not confirm any other shows.
And Nine Network recently nabbed the rest of The Big Bang Theory rights, which were with Seven, in a deal with Warner Bros. These rights had been bought by Seven in 2015.