Stan, the joint venture streaming service owned by the Nine Network and Fairfax, has announced it has signed an output deal with the iconic US studio MGM.

The deal delivers the service, which is slated to launch early in 2015, streaming rights to the critically-acclaimed US drama Fargo.

It also delivers a slate of movies including The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, the cinema reboot of 21 Jump Street and the award-winning film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

The MGM deal follows confirmation of an earlier deal, signed with Sony Pictures, which secures the streaming rights to Breaking Bad, its highly-anticipated spin-off Better Call Saul and the drama series Mozart in the Jungle.

It is understood the Sony deal also includes Amazon's critically acclaimed new comedy/drama Transparent.

StreamCo's chief executive officer Mike Sneesby said Fargo was "one of 2014's best new series and adds to the lineup of high-quality dramas Stan will have at launch".

"MGM's library includes some of the greatest movies ever made, and we're delighted to be able to bring a range of them to Stan for our audience to enjoy," he said.

Mr Sneesby said the MGM library titles, as with the Sony titles, would be available to watch instantly in full high-definition on multiple platforms including television, tablets, computers and mobile phones.

The deal between Stan's parent company, StreamCo and Metro Goldwyn Mayer is a multi-year licensing agreement which covers the studio's film and television library, including the hit comedy Will & Grace, the drama series The L Word and catalogue film titles such as When Harry Met Sally, Silence of the Lambs and the Rocky films.

The two deals will ramp up growing pressure in the television rights sector as potential players seek to tie up streaming rights to key programming libraries.

The major US streaming player Netflix is also planning a 2015 launch in the Australian market.

Some of those libraries have long-term agreements in the marketplace, such as Nine's deal with Warner Bros and Seven's with the Disney-owned ABC Studios, but others, such as Ten's agreement with CBS Studios, and titles from NBC Universal and Lionsgate, have content partially or mostly on the open market.

The Nine Network and Fairfax announced earlier this year they would be joint venture partners in Stan, each contributing $50 million to the startup service.

A launch date has not been officially announced, but the service is expected to roll out in early 2015.

*Stan is also known as StreamCo and is jointly owned by the same company that publishes this website.