Stan scores ‘significant’ Warner Bros. deal

Australia on-demand service Stan has secured an exclusive content deal with Warner Bros. that it described as its “most significant since launch”.

The licensing agreement with Warner Bros. International Television Distribution hands Stan exclusive SVOD rights to CW procedural iZombie (pictured), NBC’s comic book adaptation Constantine, Karen Gillan comedy Selfie and Cristin Miloti-starrer A to Z.

Season two of iZombie will be fast-tracked in October to allow it to go day-and-date with the US broadcast.

All included exclusively are season three of The Following, all 236 episodes of comedy Friends, The Flash, The Last Ship, Forever and Hart of Dixie.

On a non-exclusive basis, Stan has acquired all seven seasons of The West Wing, The OC, The Carrie Diaries, Fringe and Super Fun Night.

In total, Stan picks up five first-run series, and hundreds of new hours.

Stan launched earlier this year as a joint venture between Nine Entertainment, which is the parent of Nine Network, and publisher Fairfax Media.

The Warner deal is significant as Stan has strong competition in the Australian subscription on-demand space from the likes of Netflix and Presto TV.

“Our partnership with Warner Bros is the most significant since launch in terms of bringing outstanding, exclusive premiere shows and some of the most popular TV series of all time to Stan,” said Stan’s content and product director, Nick Forward.

“By adding hundreds of hours of new content to Stan’s lineup, the deal further cements our position as the SVOD service with the highest quality and largest library of content in Australia.”