Granada Australia has lost its Australia"s Next Top Model production contract from pay-TV net Foxtel after an on-air blunder marred the live final in September.

Two months ago, exec-producer and presenter Sarah Murdoch announced the wrong winner, and later blamed a communications breakdown for the gaffe.

Granada, a subsidiary of ITV Australia, quickly moved to play down the production error to Foxtel - which is owned by Telstra, News Corp and Consolidated Media Holdings - and Foxtel issued a statement accepting the explanation.

However, in an about-turn, Foxtel has withdrawn the production contract from Granada Australia, ending the prodco"s six-year run with the format. Foxtel is now seeking another production company for the show, and it is rumoured that superindie Shine TV"s Australian arm is in the running.

Neither Granada Australia nor Foxtel have confirmed that the former will not produce season seven of the reality format, but Murdoch verified the contract breakdown and said in a statement: "Granada produced Australia"s Top Model for six years. I worked with them for two years.

"They are a very talented and hard-working crew. But after what happened this year I thought very hard about it and decided it was probably time for a change."

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