Stan digs up exclusive drama

Australian subscription VoD service Stan has acquired the rights to forthcoming drama Dig, from the creators of Homeland and Heroes, and will premiere the series down under.

Dig

Stan has taken the Australian SVoD rights to the show, produced by NBCUniversal-owned Universal Cable Productions, while SBS has picked up broadcast rights.

The 10-part series will be available first on Stan from March 6, the day after it debuts on USA Network in the US, with new episodes available every Friday.

The deal between Stan, SBS and distributor Keshet International means SBS One will then launch the show on free-to-air television in May with catch-up also offered via its on-demand service.

Dig is a murder mystery set against the backdrop of modern Jerusalem and is created and executive produced by Tim Kring (Heroes) and Gideon Raff (Homeland).

It was developed by Israel’s Keshet in association with Gail Berman (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) of The Jackal Group and Gene Stein (Deception).

SJ Clarkson directed and also served as executive producer on the pilot, while Keshet’s Avi Nir (Homeland), Alon Shtruzman and Karni Ziv also serve as executive producers.

Co-owned by Nine Entertainment (NEC) and Fairfax Media, Stan launched on January 26 and is free for the first 30 days before costing A$10 (US$7.80) per month.

NEC delivered its half-yearly results last month and reported Stan’s subscriber numbers were tracking three or four months ahead of expectations, with predictions of more than 100,000 sign-ups (paid subs and those on the free trial) by mid-March.