Nine and Fairfax’s streaming service Stan signs content deal with BBC Worldwide
Nine Entertainment Co and Fairfax Media’s joint venture streaming service Stan has announced an content agreement that will see a selection of BBC Worldwide programs available on the platform.
The consumer name for the platform was announced last month, with the company also confirming it had secured the exclusive rights to Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, with the platform since then announcing other content deals including the streaming rights to Fargo and a deal with SBS which sees its World Movies content available on the platform.
Stan’s agreement with BBC Worldwide appears to be rounding out the back catalogue offering, with series currently under broadcast deals with some Australian networks including Sherlock (Nine), Ripper Street (Ten), Orphan Black (SBS), Top Gear (Nine) and Doctor Who (ABC) available to Stan’s members to watch instantly from the launch of the platform.
There will also be other back catalogue shows including The Office, Gavin and Stacey, The Vicar of Dibley, Extras, Absolutely Fabulous, Fawlty Towers will also be available on the platform alongside dramas Luther, Wallander, Parade’s End and Torchwood.
Children’s content Charlie and Lola and documentaries from David Attenborough and Louis Theroux round out the content. However, none of the titles have been confirmed to be premieres and recent series shown on BBC First, shown on Foxtel locally, such as Peaky Blinders have not been mentioned as part of the deal.
Stan director of content and product Nick Forward said: “Australians have long been entertained by BBC Worldwide’s great slate of programming. Their shows are especially loved by Australians, with British drama and comedy particularly relevant to our audience.
“We’re proud to include such a broad selection of premium content for our members.”
In announcing the deal, Jon Penn, managing director of BBC Worldwide ANZ, said: “We’re delighted to be a launch partner for Stan in Australia, offering viewers the chance to watch some of our best loved shows on the platform from day one.”
Titles will be available to watch instantly in full HD on multiple platforms including television, tablets, computers and mobile phones.
A launch date has not been formally announced for the platform, however there is speculation that Nine will push it out before the end of the year to beat the arrival of US streaming giant Netflix locally in March next year.
Stan is set to compete against Netflix, Foxtel’s BoxSets and Presto, with speculation mounting that Networks Ten and Seven will throw their content behind Presto.
Miranda Ward
Miranda Ward worked for Mumbrella from 2013 to 2017, eventually becoming deputy editor. Miranda joined Mumbrella in September 2013 from Sky News.
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Netflix will slay them.
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NIne and Fairfax reacting again.
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Stan is shaping up ok but there should be a lot more deals to come if they want to hit the ground running before Netflix (not to mention that they will need to launch before Netflix offically does as well)
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This feels eerily like the group buying ‘me too’ behaviour from the familiar bunch of AU media companies in 2010. Sink a bunch of money in, hope that your legacy audience will automatically migrate, and then bombard the audience with a bunch of offers/content that is non exclusive and available on all of them.
That ended very well too.
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I love how all the Netflix bandwagoners jump on. I use Netflix all the time and I must say the catalogue is fairly rubbish, the load time is rubbish, the quality is rubbish. The movies section as a majority is like hanging out in the 90’s section of Civic Video.
This is a brand new product, built on brand new infrastructure. I can only imagine it will be much smoother, more functional, more adaptive and also have a greater catalogue than Netflix. I am happy to pay a buck or two more than Netflix for that and support and Aussie business.
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RE Hi,
Don’t know what plan you are on, but Netflix is Super HD (1080p) and 5.1 surround sound on most programs in their catalogue. You must live in an area that has crap internet or too cheap to upgrade your net plan to a faster speed.
Stan is looking to be a good platform compared to what else is out there. The proof wil be in the pudding, but i will consider it depending on costs and quality of the stream etc.
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@Hi. You don’t happen to work for one of the reactors by any chance do you?
The issues with the ‘old guard’ is that they quash creativity as the shareholder is put first, they lose site of their purpose and therefore stop innovating.
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Netflix streams 1080. I have zero delay time. You need a decent provider (HI) or to get off dial up. Netflix also now offer 4K for a small catalogue. Lets see the locals do this. Foxtel still dish out 720p rubbish.
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So what’s all the amazing content on Netflix that’s going to blow everyone away again?
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