The streaming television service Stan (co-owned by Fairfax Media and Channel Nine) has signed an output deal with Warner Bros studios. The deal includes exclusive rights to several key series, including the horror drama iZombie and the psychological thriller The Following. It also includes the rights to all 236 episodes of the iconic comedy Friends. Other titles included in the deal are the continuing series The Flash, Hart of Dixie and Forever, new titles such as Selfie and Constantine, and library series such as The West Wing, The O.C., Sex and the City spin-off The Carrie Diaries, and the Rebel Wilson series Super Fun Night.

Pirates ahoy!

Four new United States pilots - Minority Report, Lucifer, Blindspot and The Carmichael Show - have surfaced on peer-to-peer file-sharing networks ahead of their premieres later this year on US television. The leak follows the unauthorised release of the Supergirl pilot earlier this year. All five shows are yet to secure Australian broadcasters, and several of them, notably Supergirl, Blindspot and Minority Report, are among the most anticipated new series of the upcoming US "fall" (autumn) season.

The Dead walk in

The cable channel FX and the cable platform Foxtel have signed a deal to bring the highly anticipated The Walking Dead spin-off Fear The Walking Dead to pay TV and the streaming platform Presto. The series will launch later this month on FX and will be available on Presto in 2016. Produced by Robert Kirkman and Gale Anne Hurd​, it will also be available on demand via Foxtel Anytime. In addition to the show's first season, which launches in the US later this month, a second season of 15 episodes has been ordered for 2016.

Master call

SBS has commissioned a second season of the food series Poh & Co., featuring former MasterChef contestant Poh Ling Yeow. The series, which featured a mix of cooking and food-themed segments including the construction of an edible garden, was SBS's highest rating food program of 2015 to date. "I have a mountain of delicious food and recipes ready to go," Poh said of the second series. The series is produced in-house at SBS by Erik Dwyer.

Ab Fab back?

US studio Fox Searchlight may invest in the planned feature-film spin-off to the hit British comedy Absolutely Fabulous. US trade publications have reported a deal is being discussed between Fox and the BBC to co-finance the film. Under the terms of the deal, Fox Searchlight would also handle international distribution of the film. Filming on the project begins in London in October, but has been rumoured for almost a decade. It will reunite all of the stars of the TV series, including Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley and Julia Sawalha.

Moves at Seven

The Seven Network has named a new head of content sales, as part of a broader plan to expand its business to include a US-style domestic studio to manage owned formats and in-house productions. Richard Henson will take the post and report to Seven's content distribution director Therese Hegarty. Seven already produces one scripted series for another network, A Place To Call Home, which Seven Productions makes for Foxtel. Seven's owned formats and in-house series are sold into more than 130 markets, according to the network.