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Forget Netflix — if Nine Entertainment and Fairfax have their way, everyone in Australia will soon be talking about Stan.
In one of the more curious branding moves we’ve seen in recent times, Nine Entertainment’s video streaming joint venture with Fairfax has been rebranded ahead of its Australian launch, changing names from StreamCo to Stan.
Stan now has its own home page and is accepting early registrations for a free trial of the all-you-can-eat movie and TV streaming service. It promises unlimited access for a fixed monthly fee, no ads and no lock-in contracts, and, if the glowering visage of Walter White on the homepage is anything to go by, it is pegging itself as a provider of premium content.
The original StreamCo service was announced in August this year, with both Nine and Fairfax committing AU$50 million over a “multi-year period” to the joint project. Nine Entertainment had been widely speculated to be entering the streaming space after buying out HBO’s 8 percent share in Quickflix, and the company said its partnership with Fairfax would leverage the latter’s experience in “subscription services and digital products”.
Nine said in August that it expects the TV-, PC- and mobile-compatible service to launch within the 2015 financial year, offering “a substantial catalogue spanning TV series, movies, kids and family programming, and documentaries from a wide range of leading Australia and international studios”.
Mumbrella reports that Stan will be officially launched today at a press event attended by comedian Rebel Wilson.
