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Stan signs exclusive Showtime deal

Stan signs an exclusive deal with Showtime that will see major acquisition of US titles.

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Stan has announced an exclusive rights deal with Showtime.

The deal means:

  • newly-created Showtime titles such as Twin Peaks will be exclusively available to Stan.
  • some Showtime titles with other players will migrate to Stan when current deals expire.
  • Stan to become exclusive SVOD service for other CBS titles including Madam Secretary when current deals expire
  • 700,000 subscribers currently with Stan.
  • Deal began with Billions this week.
  • Update: Foxtel retains life of series rights on The Affair, Ray Donovan and Penny Dreadful. All three shows will have an SVOD premiere on Presto. There is an 18 month holdback after Foxtel before they can play on Stan. Foxtel also has library rights to many series which will remain with them.

Stan and CBS Corporation today announced a long-term, exclusive licensing agreement that will bring all future SHOWTIME series and hundreds of hours of acclaimed SHOWTIME programing to the Australian streaming service. It will also provide Stan with an exclusive licence to the SHOWTIME brand and trademark, making Stan the official home of SHOWTIME in Australia.

The Stan/SHOWTIME agreement kicked off earlier this week with the premiere of Billions in Australia, following its record series debut in the US. In 2017, Stan will also exclusively premiere Twin Peaks, one of the most anticipated TV series returns of all time.

The new agreement marks the most significant content licensing deal in recent Australian television history, and places Stan at the forefront of a changing media landscape as SVOD quickly becomes a mainstream consumer product.

In announcing the agreement Mike Sneesby, Stan CEO, said: “The deal with SHOWTIME rounds out an amazing first year for Stan, with over 1.5 million Australians having used the service across almost 700,000 subscriptions since our launch on Australia Day 2015.

“SHOWTIME is one of the world’s greatest creators of television programming and we are delighted to enter this long-term partnership, cementing our position as Australia’s leading local SVOD service.”

For CBS Corporation, this marks the second expansive licensing agreement announced for SHOWTIME outside the US in less than a week, and a continuation of a global expansion strategy to distribute the SHOWTIME brand and content as a bundled offering to major international platforms.

Similar exclusive deals for SHOWTIME have been announced with Sky in Europe and Bell Media in Canada.

“The growth of SVOD services internationally has created a huge demand for premium content globally. Showtime’s prestigious brand and growing portfolio of programming align perfectly with this marketplace,” said Armando Nuñez, President & CEO of the CBS Global Distribution Group.

“We’re excited to expand the international footprint of SHOWTIME in a big way in Australia with Stan, and build on our relationship with their corporate parents Nine Entertainment Co. and Fairfax Media.”

Over the course of the new agreement, hundreds of hours of quality SHOWTIME programming will also become exclusively available on Stan on SVOD, including award-winning and critically acclaimed hits such as House of Lies, The Affair, Penny Dreadful, Ray Donovan, Dexter® and Californication. Current rights with other platforms will remain unchanged, with series migrating to Stan for SVOD as permitted when existing commitments expire.

In addition to SHOWTIME programming, the deal will also include exclusive SVOD rights to acclaimed CBS series such as Madam Secretary, Limitless, Elementary, Scorpion, Under the Dome, Extant, Beauty and the Beast and Reign. Every episode of every Star Trek television series will also be available on Stan.

After this week’s premiere of Billions on Stan new episodes of the 12-part series will be available in Australia day-and-date with SHOWTIME in the US. Starring award-winning actors Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis, Billions is a bold drama set in the ego-driven world of New York high finance. It was created, written and executive produced by Brian Koppelman and David Levien (Ocean’s Thirteen, Rounders) and Andrew Ross Sorkin (Too Big to Fail).

Twin Peaks is widely considered to be one of the most groundbreaking programs ever made. Creators David Lynch and Mark Frost now continue the story 25 years after the quaint north-western town of Twin Peaks was left stunned by the murder of homecoming queen Laura Palmer.

When available, all SHOWTIME and CBS titles in the agreement can be watched instantly, in full HD, on multiple platforms including televisions, tablets, computers and smartphones.

 

35 Responses

  1. David, does FX still have the rights for Homeland? Ch.10 shows it in SD, while FX screens it in HD, usually a few months after 10 finishes with the previous season? Will season 5 be on Stan or FX in other words.

  2. Well priced in Aus since just the Showtime SVOD service in the US costs $10.99 and I believe $8.99 as a Hulu add-on. I guess it is more comprehensive in the US in terms of the full catalogue of shows having immediate availability, but still not bad.

    I only subscribe to Foxtel drama pack to watch The Affair so I’m very curious to see how the rights play out.

  3. Well this kind of sucks for me. I was really looking forward to Twin Peaks next year, but I live in an area where the only internet available is very crappy with a very small GB. Stan, Presto, etc are a waste of time for me because of this. I can’t imagine Foxtel (or a lot of subscribers) will be happy about this!

  4. I pay to watch some Showtime shows via Google play store as I don’t have Foxtel. Could this mean in the future I won’t be able to and have to subscribe to Stan again?

    Personally it doesn’t work for me keep paying per month as I find that some months there’s nothing that interests me streaming services.

    1. I guess the way stan is going about things differs to mostly the way Netflix does it. I mean Netflix originals usually have all the eps released at the same time but this showtime deal kind of suggests episodes will mostly be released on a weekly basis. So when you think about it if you have time you can watch say a Netflix original in one month and only pay for that month but if you want to watch a showtime show and it has a 13 episode season and drops weekly then your atleast looking at a 3 months subscription in you want to watch them fast tracked.

  5. From my understanding stan has the streaming rights only ten has the FTA rights an Foxtel has the pay tv rights . Is that right.simply because our internet service is crap no point in us getting any streaming service not getting NbN to end of 2017 and even then will only be marginally better we live in a regional area. Malcolm turnball stuffed up big time with his version of the NBN.

  6. Stan really is doing well for themselves, although I wish with some of their shows they provide more than just one season.

    My main issue with them is their Telstra TV app is really slow to load.

  7. Ten has an output deal with CBS that gives them picks of CBS shows. That will continue for new CBS shows while the deal does. Whether Ten or CBS would want to renew that deal anyway is debatable.

    Where Ten has bought the rights to Homeland, Madam Secretary etc. it would be standard for them to have options for future seasons (regardless of any output deals) so would be able continue showing them for the run of the shows.

    It will be interesting to see how committed CBS remains to Eleven now they are betting on Stan as their primary distribution system in this country.

  8. I read the quote as meaning that they have had 700,000 accounts created over the past year (some of which may still be active, some of which won’t be, perhaps some which were only ever trialists), rather than 700,000 current subscribers.

  9. Not at all good for Foxtel. They have always branded Showcase ‘the home of Showtime’. Not sure what premium content will fill that channel in the future.

  10. Does this mean that 1) The Affair season 3 will be exclusive to Stan(not Showcase – Foxtel), that Homeland S6 will be exclusive to Stan(not 10), That the latest series of Ray Donovan, Stan not Foxtel etc?

    1. It’s unclear when Stan will take titles that currently exist with other players, such as Foxtel. They did not disclose today. I suspect it changes from show to show. CBS titles with TEN will have streaming rights with Stan but again not clear exactly when. I don’t see TEN losing CBS titles off air. Will need to check further.

      1. I found the part that what happens with existing shows on channel 10 really confusing. It would be disappointing if your watching a show on 10 and later seasons disappeared to stan because rights deals ended. This really needs clarifying which I’m gathering your doing.

      2. They will never publicly disclose the details of commercial deals.

        This will mostly affect Foxtel’s Drama package. Whether Showcase has exclusive first run rights with options for future series we will see. If they do shows will play out their run on Showcase. Where they don’t they will move to Stan as soon as Foxtel’s rights expire.

        Repeat rights for Showtime shows will no longer be available. It sounds like broadcasts rights for CBS repeats will still be available to Eleven, TV Hits! but not other SVOD services. Limiting the value of any one SVOD service in this country.

    1. I’m not sure how people can hate Stan for this, or be ‘disappointed’. If you like the content, why not subscribe? (And if you are already on NF and don’t want to pay for two, just alternate between them).

    1. Max they already do have closed captions aka subtitles . On some content . Typing CC into the search bar shows 394 titles with them so far. Shows like Billions and Better Call Saul have them.

  11. I’ve been wanting to watch The Affair, its not available on iTunes or Google play to watch and I guess this is why. May have to start my Stan subscription again.

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