Canceled 'Nashville' TV show may have new home

HOLLYWOOD, June 8 (UPI) -- The country music drama Nashville that ABC cancelled after four seasons may have a new home.

Lionsgate Television is reported to be near a deal for a fifth season on Viacom-owned CMT, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

CMT is just one of the potential new homes for Nashville. Others mentioned include Hulu, Lifetime, Bravo and E!, as Lionsgate has remained firm on finding a home for the show's fifth season.

A formal announcement could come as soon as Wednesday during the CMT Awards.

Lionsgate and ABC Studios were confident enough that they would find the show a new home that they convinced ABC to air Nashville's cliffhanger ending, TVonline reported.

"We wouldn't take such a strong position to advocate for (the cliffhanger ending) if we didn't feel good about our chances moving forward," said Kevin Beggs, Lionsgate TV's chairman.

The series' last aired episode left the fate of the show's Juliette Barnes, played by Hayden Panettiere, in the air as the plane that was carrying the starlet lost radio contact. The show shot, but ultimately discarded, an alternative ending in which Juliette is alive and reunited with her estranged husband Avery.

"There's a little short-term pain but ultimately long-term gain because we intend and are quite focused and are in substantive and serious conversations with multiple buyers about continuing the show on another platform," Beggs said. "If we didn't feel that was going to happen, we might have gone a different way."