Stan (stylized as Stan.) is an Australian

over-the-top An over-the-top (OTT) media service is a media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet. OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms: the types of companies that traditionally act as controllers or distributors ...

streaming service. It was launched on 26 January 2015. Stan originally was founded as StreamCo Media, a 50/50

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...

between Nine Entertainment Co. and

Fairfax Media Fairfax Media was a media company in Australia and New Zealand, with investments in newspaper, magazines, radio and digital properties. The company was founded by John Fairfax as John Fairfax and Sons, who purchased ''The Sydney Morning Herald' ...

. In August 2014, each company invested A$50 million in StreamCo. StreamCo was renamed Stan Entertainment in December 2014, prior to the January 2015 launch of the streaming service. Nine Entertainment would ultimately acquire Fairfax Media in 2018, making Stan a wholly owned subsidiary of

Nine Digital Nine Digital Pty Ltd (formerly Mi9) is an Australian digital media company and subsidiary of Nine Entertainment Co. History Nine.com.au, Ninemsn was originally formed in 1997 as a joint venture between Microsoft and Publishing and Broadcasti ...

. The service offers a broad range of film and television content from both local and foreign productions, particularly from the United States and United Kingdom. Stan also includes a growing library of their own original film and television content. With over 2.3 million subscribers, as of August 2020 Stan is the third largest streaming service in Australia, behind

Disney+ Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...

and

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

. Stan's original comedy ''

No Activity ''No Activity'' is an Australian comedy television series which streams on Stan. The series is about two detectives on a stakeout. The Australian series was the first commission produced for the Australian streaming service. It comes from the ...

'' became the first SVOD program ever nominated for a

Logie Award The Logie Awards (officially the TV Week Logie Awards; colloquially known as The Logies) is an annual gathering to celebrate Australian television, sponsored and organised by the magazine ''TV Week''. The first ceremony was held in 1959 as the ...

at the 2016 ceremony.

Content

At launch, the first major programming announcement was the exclusive rights to the premiere season of ''

Better Call Saul ''Better Call Saul'' is an American crime and legal drama television series created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. Part of the ''Breaking Bad'' franchise, it is a spin-off of Gilligan's previous series, ''Breaking Bad'', and serves as a ...

'' as well as the rights to '' Breaking Bad'', which previously aired on Foxtel. It also held the rights to ''

Transparent Transparency, transparence or transparent most often refer to: * Transparency (optics), the physical property of allowing the transmission of light through a material They may also refer to: Literal uses * Transparency (photography), a still, ...

'' and ''

Mozart in the Jungle ''Mozart in the Jungle'' is an American comedy-drama streaming television series developed by Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman, Alex Timbers, and Paul Weitz for the video-on-demand service Amazon Prime Video. It received a production order in ...

''. The company has a content partnership deal with Sony Pictures,

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

, SBS and its

World Movies SBS World Movies is an Australian free-to-air television channel showing international movies. The channel features foreign language films, documentaries, independent and mainstream cinema and interviews with international movie stars. It was ...

subsidiary,

Paramount Global Paramount Global ( doing business as Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned and operated by National Amusements (79.4%) and headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York. ...

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

, BBC Worldwide, Showtime,

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

Village Roadshow Village Roadshow Limited is an Australian company which operates cinemas and theme parks, and produces and distributes films. Before being acquired by private equity company BGH Capital, the company was listed on the Australian Securities Ex ...

, and Warner Bros. International Television Distribution. In December 2014, Stan signed non-exclusive agreements with

ABC Commercial ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

and Viacom, with the latter covering

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programmin ...

, MTV, and

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

programming. In August 2015, Stan signed a multi-year deal with Warner Bros. International Television Distribution, bringing several new U.S. series to the platform, including Australian premiere series '' A to Z'' and ''

Selfie A selfie () is a self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a digital camera or smartphone, which may be held in the hand or supported by a selfie stick. Selfies are often shared on social media, via social networking services such as ...

'', as well as the third season of ''

The Following ''The Following'' is an American crime thriller television series created by Kevin Williamson, and jointly produced by Outerbanks Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television. The first season follows former FBI agent Ryan Hardy ( Kevin Bacon) ...

'' (the first two seasons aired on the Nine Network). In 2016, Stan reached an exclusive multi-year deal with

CBS Corporation The second incarnation of CBS Corporation (the first being a short-lived rename of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation) was an American multinational media conglomerate with interests primarily in commercial broadcasting, publishing, and ...

, which included exclusive rights to Showtime original programs (before the launch of

Paramount+ Paramount+ is an American subscription video on-demand service owned by Paramount Global. The service's content is drawn primarily from the libraries of CBS Media Ventures (including CBS Studios), Paramount Media Networks (formerly Viacom Media ...

in August 2021). On 13 December 2018, Stan reached a content agreement with

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

to carry films and television series. The agreement ended in late-2019 due to the launch of

. On 20 August 2019, Stan reached an agreement with Paramount Pictures, carrying some of its films, and series such as ''The Great'' and ''Looking for Alaska''. In August 2020, Stan reached a multi-year agreement with

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. NBCUniversal is primaril ...

for rights to content from

Sky Studios Sky Studios is a production company founded by Sky in June 2019 with assets from the now defunct Sky Vision. It develops, produces and funds original drama, comedy and documentary, and has investments in a number of production businesses in ...

and its U.S. streaming service

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera '' Pavo'' and '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female peafowl are r ...

Original content

Stan has commissioned its parent company, the Nine Network, to produce original Australian drama series exclusive to the service and has approached ABC and SBS on the possibility of co-producing shows and films. On 16 February 2015, Stan announced it was developing two original series—a '' Wolf Creek'' series and a political drama based on the life of High Court judge

Lionel Murphy Lionel Keith Murphy QC (30 August 1922 – 21 October 1986) was an Australian politician, barrister, and judge. He was a Senator for New South Wales from 1962 to 1975, serving as Attorney-General in the Whitlam Government, and then sat on the ...

titled ''Enemies of the State'', with additional productions to be announced in the coming months. On 10 March 2015, it was announced Stan had acquired '' Plonk'', a comedic wine program which had formerly aired on Eleven, premiering season two on 18 June 2015. On 1 May 2015, Stan announced its first commissioned series, a comedy titled ''

''; which premiered on 22 October 2015. Stan renewed ''No Activity'' on 15 December 2015 for a second season.

Acquired exclusives

The following is a list of acquired programs which have had their Australian premiere on Stan.

Stan Sport

In November 2020, Stan began to acquire sports rights in association with

Nine's Wide World of Sports ''Nine's Wide World of Sports'' is a long running sports anthology brand on Australian television that airs on the Nine Network and streaming service Stan. All major sports, events and series covered by the network are broadcast under this br ...

. These events are carried in a new add-on subscription known as Stan Sport, while the Nine Network holds free-to-air rights to portions of these packages. In 2021, Stan and Nine began a three-year contract with

Rugby Australia Rugby Australia Ltd, previously named the Australian Rugby Union Limited and Australian Rugby Football Union Limited, is an Australian company operating the premier rugby union competition in Australia and teams. It has its origins in 1949. It ...

to air

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

on the Nine Network and Stan. Ending a long-standing agreement with

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...

and

Network 10 Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

, Stan holds the pay television rights, streaming all Super Rugby and

Super W The Super W is a women's rugby union competition held in Australia. The inaugural season was in 2018, when it replaced the former National Women's Rugby Championship. The are the most successful team so far, . Teams Six women's rugby teams c ...

matches live and ad-free, as well as coverage of inbound tests involving Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, and South Africa, club matches, The Rugby Championship, the

Bledisloe Cup The Bledisloe Cup is an annual rugby union competition originally staged between the national teams of Australia's Wallabies and New Zealand's All Blacks that has been contested since the 1930s. The frequency that the competition is held has va ...

, and the

Shute Shield The Shute Shield is a semi-professional rugby union competition in Sydney, Australia. It is the premier club competition in New South Wales. The Shute Shield is awarded to the winning team from the Sydney premiership grand final held at the end ...

, among others. Stan and Nine also acquired rights to the French Open and Wimbledon tennis tournaments. In June 2021, Stan announced the acquisition of the rights to UEFA club competitions, including the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

beginning in August of 2021. In the same announcement it was also revealed that the Australian Open would be broadcast on the platform.

Magazine programs

Commentators

Rugby Union *

Nick McArdle Nick McArdle is an Australian TV sports presenter with a career spanning 20 years in the media industry. He was previously weekend sports presenter for ''Seven News'' in Sydney for a number of years. Career McArlde began his career in sports r ...

(Host- Internationals), 2021-present *

Roz Kelly Roz Kelly (born Rosiland Schwartz on July 29, 1942) is an American actress, perhaps best known for playing Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli's ( Henry Winkler) girlfriend Carol "Pinky" Tuscadero on the television series ''Happy Days''. Career Before ...

(Host- Internationals), 2021-present * Sean Maloney (Main Caller- Internationals), 2021-present * Andrew Swain (Secondary Caller- Internationals), 2021-present * Michael Chennel (Caller- Super W), 2021 * Martin Lippiatt (Caller- Super W), 2021 * Greg Clark (Caller- Super W), 2021 *

Tim Horan Tim Horan AM (born 18 May 1970) is a former Australian rugby union footballer. He played for the Queensland Reds in the Super 12, and represented Australia. He was one of the best centres in the world throughout the 1990s due to his attacking ...