The long anticipated $100 million ‘Netflix killer’ from the combined resources of StreamCo, the joint venture between the Nine Network and Fairfax, has been unveiled and branded as Stan.
Australia’s latest video on demand provider is taking a leaf out of Netflix’s winning strategy in that is leading with an exclusive content proposition from launch.
StreamCo CEO Mike Sneesby, confirmed that Stan would launch with the first-run rights for ‘Better Call Saul’, the prequel to ‘Breaking Bad’. The series is scheduled to launch in February 2015 on AMC in the US, and Stan will make each episode exclusively available within hours of its premiere.
A second season of Better Call Saul has already been commissioned.
The service would also be the exclusive subscription video on demand home for Breaking Bad in Australia after securing a deal with Sony Pictures Television.
StreamCo, Content and Product Director Nick Forward, of StreamCo, said “we are delighted to have secured exclusive rights to 2015’s most anticipated new show. With Stan, Australians will finally have a value-for-money subscription entertainment service that makes premium content accessible to everyone.
We look forward to revealing the rest of our content lineup in the coming weeks, including more fantastic first-run series and awesome exclusives.”
Yet while Stan is launching with an impressive content coup, such exclusivity will be hard to maintain given the stiff competition.
The streaming video company will go head to head with Quickflix, Fetch and Foxtel’s Presto and soon Netflix which is warming up for launch in Australia some time in 2015. Meanwhile networks Seven and Ten are looking at partnering with established streaming players to launch competitive services.
Stan is widely anticipated to be priced at around $9.99 per month, to compete with Netflix it has yet to name a confirmed launch date.
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