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Stan inks multi-year strategic content partnership with Sony Pictures Television

Australian streaming service Stan has today entered a new multi-year strategic content partnership with Sony Pictures Television, securing Stan a brand new exclusive slate of first-run premium scripted drama.

The expanded partnership will see the extension of hit Stan exclusives and will also bring an extensive catalogue of iconic Sony Pictures Television series and global blockbuster films to Stan.

This major multi-year agreement with Sony Pictures Television is Stan’s latest major partnership with a renowned Hollywood studio for first-run premium scripted series, following blockbuster deals with Lionsgate, MGM, NBCU, and Paramount.

Stan’s chief executive officer, Martin Kugeler, said: “Stan’s major new strategic content agreement with Sony Pictures Television will bring a large suite of world-class, premium drama to our subscribers exclusively. This deal is the latest addition to our existing partnerships with major Hollywood studios and will give Stan an even stronger long-term lineup of exclusive first-run premium content.

“From Better Call Saul to Spider-Man, Sony Pictures has created some of the most iconic characters and best-loved franchises for our screens. Since bringing us Better Call Saul, Sony Pictures has long been an important partner of Stan. We look forward to building on our well-established relationship as we enter this new strategic partnership.”

Sony Pictures’ EVP for international distribution & networks, Mike Wald, said: “With their wide array of premium international and local content, Stan has been a great partner for us to reach Australian audiences. We are thrilled to extend our strong relationship with them and to have Stan as the future home for so many of our most exciting TV series and global franchises.”

Earlier this year, Nine Entertainment Co. released its results for the six months to December 2021 yesterday and during the presentation Stan’s Kugeler gave an update on how the platform was performing.

“What we see is a global trend of increasing investment in productions and output and 2021 has been a record year in terms of that — 14% growth year-on-year and that is across all key markets, the US, the UK and Australia,” Kugeler said. “The result of that is that more and more content comes to what we refer to as the spot market, which is content that we can buy outside of existing output deals. And just to give you two good examples currently, very successful on our platform: Trigger Point, one of my personal favourites from the makers of Line of Duty and of Bodyguard, and the Janet Jackson documentary”

He added: “We have built really strong relationships with all of our Hollywood partners and international distributors. In the last six months we have extended our LionsGate Starz output deal, our MGM output deal, and our Warner deal to increase our global content library.”

The deal also builds on Stan’s long-standing relationship with Sony Pictures Television, which has seen smash-hit series Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad stream exclusively on Stan in Australia – with the new agreement extending Stan’s rights to both iconic series.

Stan’s new agreement with Sony Pictures Television will see the exclusive premiere of a number of first-run premium dramas coming soon, including Twisted Metal, a half-hour action-comedy series about a motor-mouthed outsider offered a chance at a better life, but only if he can successfully deliver a mysterious package across a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Based on the PlayStation video game franchise and written by Michael Jonathan Smith (Cobra Kai), Twisted Metal stars Anthony Mackie (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier), Stephanie Beatriz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Thomas Haden Church (Spider- Man™: No Way Home) and Neve Campbell (The Lincoln Lawyer).

Other premium dramas coming soon to Stan include Straight Man, a mid-life crisis tale starring Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul) as William Henry Devereaux Jr, the unlikely chairman of a Pennsylvania college English department; Panhandle, starring Luke Kirby (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) and Tiana Okoye (The Good Place) and set in the Florida panhandle, with the series following arm-chair detective Bell Prescott (Kirby) and reluctant traffic cop Cammie Lorde (Okoye) as they wrestle with personal demons, shocking twists, and a few Florida gators on their journey to heal themselves and their town; and Passport to Freedom, which tells the story of Aracy de Carvalho (Sophie Charlotte), an employee in the Brazilian consulate in Hamburg, Germany in the lead up to World War II, who managed to save many Jews by issuing passports to allow them to travel to Brazil.

The new agreement also includes iconic Sony Pictures Television series including The Nanny, Dawson’s Creek, For Life, and more, alongside an extensive catalogue of global blockbuster film franchises, including Spider-Man™, Jumanji, Men in Black, and many more.

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