Seven tried Everybody Loves Raymond but it was a flop. From what I recall, they onsold the rights to Ten who were looking for more content and were satisfied with mediocre ratings. It’s their persistence that made it somewhat of a hit.
Ten did the same with Seinfeld when Nine wasn’t interested after screening the first season and it wasn’t an instant hit. Nine did the reverse by picking up Frasier from Ten and making that a hit.
Similar to The Simpsons, Whenever Ten would go back to the start during its 6 pm showings they would only ever go back to Season 2 and never show Season 1.
I thought it was a network deal… due to Seven losing Lois & Clark (the new adventures of Superman) the same time. Surprisingly enough it’s returned all these years to 7+.
I think Nine became the exclusive partner to all WB content from 1996.