Hopefully we don't have to wait so long for it to air this time around...

So close, but an amazing finale to end it!!!

@LadyShelley wrote:
It's the timing that I'm wondering about. Disney may not own FOX the network, but there's still some sort of connection. Usually, a show has to be cancelled, and that cancellation announced, before another network swoops in to feed on the carcass. 

As for 9-1-1, yes, going into a season seven costs increase (note that SWAT over on CBS has not been renewed either, probably for the same budgetary reasons.) With that said, the show was the top-rated scripted show, drama or comedy, for FOX, you don't just cut your losses on that audience without a reason. 

I suspect that the production company producing the show is now under the Disney umbrella. (20th Television). If that's the case, FOX would be paying Disney transmission fees to air the series. 20th Television also produces Lone Star, so it could be a case where FOX was willing to pay for one but not both, and Disney took the other show for ABC (there will be some schedule holes that need filling with the conclusion of A Million Little Things and some of the freshman series' not performing well). 

As the article notes, there was this renewal report article for FOX back in March that said a renewal of 9-1-1 was 'very much uncertain'.

It also includes this info: "Because of that and the fact that Fox has no ownership in the series, which was developed when the network and 20th TV were part of the same company, negotiations between Fox and the studio might not be straightforward, I hear."

There was also this renewal report article for ABC in March saying this: "Should Fox, which does not own 9-1-1, not pick it up, the hit procedural, produced by ABC’s Disney sibling 20th Television, could potentially move to ABC, taking a slot from a current series."

So to sum it up, the show is produced by 20th Television which is under Disney- that answers your whole beginning regarding a show cancellation needing to first be announced, as they would know what's going on with it.

I don't watch this show or anything similar to it, but quite an interesting story... main show cancelled and move to a different network while the spin-off continues on the network the main show is moving away from.