Strip out the American imports and the 2027 plans from Paramount Australia say something plain about where the money is going. Network 10 and Paramount+ have built next year around three things a global streamer cannot easily buy off the shelf: Australian stories, Australian reality franchises and Australian football fans.
The slate was released in a run of announcements from 28 October, ahead of an upfront for advertisers staged in the MasterChef kitchen in Melbourne the next day. The company’s pitch to buyers was scale: it says 10 and Paramount+ together reach 16.6 million Australians a month.
Local originals on Paramount+
The Paramount+ list of Australian originals is short and pointed. Sam Kerr Kicking Goals is a live-action series inspired by the Matildas star’s childhood in Western Australia, adapted from the books she co-wrote with Fiona Harris. It comes from Orange Entertainment Co., with major investment from Screen Australia and Screenwest, and the search for a young actor to play Kerr is under way. It will stream alongside the service’s coverage of every match of the Women’s World Cup.
Paramount Australia / Nigel Wright
True crime carries the rest. Hedley Thomas Investigates gives the journalist behind The Teacher’s Pet six self-contained cases, produced by Warner Bros. International Television Production. Who The Hell Is Hamish?, a six-part drama led by Dominic Cooper and Claire van der Boom, dramatises the story of fraudster Hamish McLaren. Mushroom Murders, a limited series with Melanie Lynskey, completes the drama slate, and comedy comes from The Inspired Unemployed Sketch Show. Last King of the Cross returns for a third season and NCIS: Sydney for a fourth.
It is a list worth reading against Australia’s streaming content quota: a handful of high-profile local commissions rather than volume, arriving in the same season as the ABC’s 2027 slate and a content restructure at SBS.
Sport as the anchor
Football is the spine of the year. The FIFA Women’s World Cup Brazil 2027 is the headline event on 10 and Paramount+, with Paramount+ streaming every match. The AFC Asian Cup 2027 in Saudi Arabia streams exclusively on Paramount+ from January. A-League Men, the Ninja A-League and Matildas and Socceroos friendlies run across both 10 and Paramount+.
Network 10’s free-to-air schedule adds the MotoGP Australian Grand Prix, staged as a street race in Adelaide for the first time, and the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, with Australia’s first Sprint Race. Paramount+ carries UFC Fight Night events and numbered-event prelims, and Zuffa Boxing.
Reality does the heavy lifting on 10
The free-to-air network leans on formats it already owns. Australian Survivor: Rivals, filmed in Malaysia with David Genat hosting, premieres on 10 on Monday 11 January at 7.30pm. Big Brother moves to Brisbane with live evictions, Junior MasterChef Australia returns with Poh Ling Yeow and a guest appearance by Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Robert Irwin joins Australian Ninja Warrior. “We have a 2027 programming slate packed with big, bold, noisy shows,” said Tamara Simoneau, Network 10’s vice president of content.
What it means for you
- Free-to-air viewers in Australia: the reality tentpoles, the motor racing and much of the football stay free on 10, beginning with Survivor: Rivals on 11 January.
- Paramount+ subscribers: the local originals, the Asian Cup and every Women’s World Cup match sit on the service, which starts at A$7.99 a month or A$70.99 a year.
- New Zealand viewers: Paramount’s 2027 announcements do not set out Aotearoa availability for any of these titles or sports rights; check local listings.
Sources
- Paramount Australia & New Zealand: Paramount+ in 2027, 28 Oct 2026
- Paramount Australia & New Zealand: If 2027 has a watchlist, it’s on 10, 28 Oct 2026
- Paramount Australia & New Zealand: World Cup fever returns in 2027, 28 Oct 2026
- Paramount Australia & New Zealand: Sam Kerr Kicking Goals scores a new live-action series on Paramount+, 28 Oct 2026
- Paramount Australia & New Zealand: Hedley Thomas Investigates, 28 Oct 2026
- Paramount Australia & New Zealand: Paramount Australia plates up its 2027 Upfront in the MasterChef kitchen, 29 Oct 2026
- Paramount Australia & New Zealand: Australian Survivor: Rivals premiere, 30 Oct 2026
Where to watch
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