Stan launches in Oz

Stan, the Australian video-on-demand service jointly owned by Nine Entertainment and Fairfax Media, has officially launched today on Australia Day.

Stan enters an increasingly crowded subscription VoD market as it competes against Foxtel’s fledgling Presto TV, Quickflix and US streaming giant Netflix.

The platform has two months’ head start on Netflix, which is set to inaugurate its Australian service in late March and is believed to already have more than 200,000 subscribers.

At launch, Stan is offering more than 750 titles, including Amazon’s Golden Globe winner Transparent, and has content deals signed with Sony, BBC Worldwide, SBS, ABC and Viacom.

In February, the service will debut Breaking Bad prequel Better Call Saul. The platform charges A$10 (US$8.08) per month for unlimited access to its TV and film library, which includes exclusive SVoD rights to the James Bond movie franchise, with a 30-day free trial.

Stan’s launch comes as Netflix continues its rapid expansion around the world, adding 13 million new subscribers in 2014, according to its fourth-quarter results.