Stan’s Disney Deal Craps All Over Netflix

Local streaming service Stan has scored a significant coup, sealing a deal with Disney that gives it access to a wide catalogue of movies from Pixar, LucasArts, Marvel and Disney’s own library.

While Netflix boasts about its own productions, the demise of tent-pole series such as House of Cards, Orange is the New Black and the Marvel series signals a shift with the local streamer offering a compelling service.

Stan’s deal with Disney, which officially opens tomorrow will deliver a slew of favourites including the Toy Story series, Finding Nemo, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther and a number of movies from the Star Wars collection.

In short, it’s a massive win for Stan, which has built a strong catalogue of US content via a recent deal with the CW. (This gave it access to a bunch of TV content from the DC universe including The Flash and Arrow.) And there’s some great locally produced content as well like Wolf Creek.

In contrast, Netflix’s catalogue is looking increasingly sparse. With the shows that brought Netflix its massive following now closing out – even the exceptionally good Daredevil has been given the bullet – the studio is depending on new and untested IP more and more. But the value of an established library of popular content is undeniable.

This new deal between Disney and Stan now puts the local company in a far stronger position to attract Australian audiences. It is investing in local production and has a strong international catalogue.

Of course, pricing always remains a consideration. Stan currently offers three pricing tiers. $10 per month lets you watch on one screen at a time with another $2 providing access to HD and two more screens. $15 a month gets to four screens and access to 4K and UHD content.

Netflix starts at $9.99 per month for one screen of Standard Definition content. Two screens with HD jumps to $13.99 per month with $17.99 per month offering four screens at a time and HD and UHD content.

So, not only is Stan winning the content war but they are under-cutting the US giant by a couple of bucks per month.

Disclosure: Stan is owned by Nine which also owns Lifehacker Australia.