Moreover it is still unclear how Netflix plans to migrate its established "grey market" customer base, who access the US service from Australia via virtual private networks (VPNs), to its leaner, local cousin. Madagascar spin-off All Hail King Julien will feature on Australian Netflix. Whatever happens, the line in the sand has been drawn. The first quarter of 2015 will usher in two new major competitors in Australia's historically noncompetitive TV space, notwithstanding the dreary and over-reported war of attrition between Seven and Nine. First, there is a sense that the arrival of "streaming" broadcasters in the TV space, such as Netflix and Stan, will upset the television applecart, luring eyeballs away from traditional free-to-air and pay TV. But it is, at least in the short-term, pay TV which is facing the greater threat of the two incumbents, particularly when the low price point of streamcasters - in the US around the $10 per month mark, and expected to be in a similar range here - is factored in.

These are, after all, transactional services which are hoping to score $10 from their customers' purses and wallets. Free-to-air television, while older and saddled with ads, has always enjoyed the competitive edge of costing its customers nothing. Daredevil: A superhero action series based on the Marvel comic character, starring Charlie Cox. Moreover, despite the tendency in Australia to bemoan the state of free-to-air television, Australians have historically been well serviced by it, airing many shows which US audiences had to pay for, such as The Sopranos, Sex and the City, Oz, Breaking Bad and Mad Men. Foxtel's hefty price point is already sliding down to a more competitive level, and its Presto offering, initially too costly with too lean a library, will be fattened up in the coming months; it has already been re-priced to the $10 mark. BoJack Horseman is an animated sitcom following a four-legged celebrity.

While all of the streaming players are securing content from Hollywood's key film and television libraries, the initial measuring stick for analysts will be original, or first-run, content. Netflix's launch announcement includes the promise of Marco Polo, which stars Australian actor Remy Hii, BoJack Horseman, starring Will Arnett and Amy Sedaris, the Madagascar spin-off All Hail King Julien and the Lily Tomlin/Jane Fonda vehicle Grace and Frankie. Marco Polo: An adventure series following the early years of explorer Marco Polo in the court of Kublai Khan. Rival Stan, a joint venture between the Nine Network and Fairfax, is focusing on acquired content, notably the critically acclaimed US drama series Transparent and the highly-anticipated Breaking Bad prequel Better Call Saul. It has already confirmed output deals with Sony and MGM. Measuring media noise on the programs themselves, Stan's offering is the louder of the two. But how the programming cake will be carved up between the players is largely still to be determined, and some on the sidelines, such as Seven and Ten, are yet to declare clearly how they will enter the game.

Bloodline: A thriller starring Australian Ben Mendelsohn (right). At the broadcasters upfront events this year - essentially lavish pitches to the advertising industry for future revenue - the issue was raised. Both Foxtel and Seven notably assured their clients they had a strategy in place to counter the threat. Australia is, to some extent, coming to the game late. In the US, the three major video on demand services - Netflix, Amazon and the Comcast/Fox/Disney-owned Hulu - are now dominant players. And Netflix has already opened outposts in the UK and across Europe. Moreover, they are expected to sink $US6.8 billion ($7.8 billion) into content next year. They will be, declared the trade newspaper Variety, "a godsend to Hollywood's major studios." But they will also begin to shave off key content from traditional broadcasters. Better Call Saul, which would have gone to free-to-air or pay TV in Australia, will go to Stan. And the third season of House of Cards, Netflix's critically exalted flagship drama, will be now be held back from Foxtel so it can premiere on Netflix's Australian service.

The net effect is that traditional players, though not competing for dollars out of the purse of their audience in the same way, will have to deal with an aggressive play for exclusive access to US studio content, and the best local program ideas. "The truth is technology is both our greatest challenge and equally it is our greatest opportunity," MCN's chief executive Anthony Fitzgerald told media and advertisers earlier this month. "I've long been a believer in the philosophy that in the digital age you must identify the business model that can kill your business and evolve into that particular business." Bloodline: A thriller investigating "the demons that lurk beneath the surface of a contemporary family". Stars Australian Ben Mendelsohn. Daredevil: Superhero action series based on the Marvel comic character, starring Charlie Cox with Vincent D'Onofrio and Deborah Ann Woll.

Grace and Frankie: Comedy starring Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda about two women forced to cooperate when they learn their husbands are planning to run off together. Sense8: Science fiction drama co-written and co-written by the teams behind The Matrix and Babylon 5. Marco Polo: Adventure series following the early years of explorer Marco Polo in the court of Kublai Khan. BoJack Horseman: Animated sitcom following a four-legged celebrity trying to restart his career in a world where horses and humans communicate. All Hail King Julien: Spin-off from the successful Madagascar films following the island's Lemur king.

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