StreamCo CEO Mike Sneesby will happily shake the Netflix boss’s hand. Image: Alex Heber.
Netflix on Wednesday announced it would officially launch its Australian streaming service in March 2015.
StreamCo, the $100 million joint venture between Fairfax and Channel 9, has also been madly developing its own internet TV service called Stan.
There has been a lot of speculation around when Stan will be launched but the company’s CEO Mike Sneesby said it has deliberately not confirmed timings.
“We haven’t disclosed our launch date, very intentionally,” he told Business Insider. “There’s clearly a bunch of indicators that might indicate when our launch is going to be and that was speculated in relation to Better Call Saul.
“It’s important that we don’t confirm the date mostly because of that competitive situation.
“I think Netflix has given an indication that it’s March but again they haven’t themselves even fixed a date on that. They may launch earlier, they may launch later than that.
“We are indicatively pegged around a date with Better Call Saul coming to Australia but again we’ve got flexibility as well, and we want to have that flexibility.
Television as a medium and a business is changing rapidly. Only a few years ago there were just a couple of channels and Pay TV ran alongside that. Then digital TV launched and more free-to-air channels were available.
But with technology making content freely available on the internet, consumers are now demanding it be available when and where they want it.
These demands have sparked the internet streaming industry which is led by the likes of Netflix in the US – challenging incumbents in the market.
“This is a revolution and I think the change that’s happened in the last six months has been unbelievable,” StreamCo’s acquisition boss Les Sampson said.
StreamCo picked this trend and started building its own platform. They’ve got a product almost ready to launch into a hot market after being in existence for only just a year. This week Business Insider got to take a look how far the company has already come.
Here's the asbestos-ridden cottage on Channel Nine's Sydney campus where it all started in January this year.
You've got to start somewhere. StreamCo began developing Stan in this run-down cottage on Channel 9's Sydney campus.
Stan CEO Mike Sneesby took Business Insider on a tour of the company's very humble beginnings. To get in, you've got to scoot past the loo.
Every day the team would do a stand-up meeting in this tiny room.
It was freezing in winter. The heating didn't work and the team was making trips to Big W buying oil heaters. They accumulated so many the power kept tripping.
One day one of the tech guys leaned against a window pane and it fell out. There's also asbestos in the building.
There were no fancy kitchens or ping pong tables.
It was generally pretty basic.
But four weeks ago, team Stan relocated into the Channel 9 sales team's old office.
The new digs are much cleaner, brighter and warmer.
And also a little corporate. Stan is growing up.
There's also a MASSIVE TV the team uses to test its Breaking Bad content is working.
Disclosure: Fairfax Media owns Allure Media, publisher of Business Insider Australia.