A double shot of Euro TV news: streamers MHz Choice and Topic are merging, and MHz Choice will be the exclusive home of the hit German series Babylon Berlin in the US.
Kino Lorber announced today that its MHz Choice and Topic streaming services are merging — creating a single powerhouse streamer of international series for audiences in the US and Canada.
The new service will maintain the MHz Choice branding and bring together the two streamers’ libraries of some of the best television content from across the globe — from Nordic noir crime dramas (including Beck, The Bridge, and The Killing) and European mysteries and thrillers (including Dead Mountain, Detective Montalbano, Pagan Peak, and Spiral), to riveting dramas and entertaining comedies and documentaries from Africa, Asia, Australia, the Americas, and the Middle East, as well as Europe (including Caravan of Death, A French Village, Happily Married, Lambs of God, Lioness, Pension Metsa, Queens, and The Sea Beyond).
There’s much more besides, with even more coming to audiences in the US and Canada as MHz Choice continues to acquire some of the hottest new international TV releases.
One of its most recent and notable acquisitions is the outstanding German crime thriller series Babylon Berlin, whose new and exclusive home in the US is MHz Choice. If you’re not familiar with it, the multi-award-winning series is based on the best-selling “Gereon Rath Mysteries” series of novels by Volker Kutscher. Set during the Roaring Twenties, it stars Volker Bruch (Generation War) as Gereon Rath, a young police inspector in Cologne who is transferred to the vice squad at police headquarters in Berlin for a case involving the Berlin Mafia. Assisting Gereon in an unofficial capacity is police steno-typist Charlotte Ritter (Liv Lisa Fries, Counterpart), a bright young woman who is struggling to improve her family’s miserable living conditions by leading a double life.
MHz Choice subscribers can look forward to Season 1 of Babylon Berlin when bows on the streamer in April. And for folks who’ve seen the first three seasons and have been waiting for what feels like forever for Season 4, mark your calendars for June 25, which is when this highly-anticipated, never-before-shown-in-North-America season premieres on MHz Choice. (Yay!)
Said Ed Carroll, President, Kino Lorber Media Group:
“MHz Choice is now the ultimate destination for those who love international series, and especially European mysteries and Nordic noir. Babylon Berlin is one of the crown jewels of television, a period drama whose timeless themes transcend geography and language in the way shows like A French Village, Downton Abbey or Mad Men have all around the world. We anticipate our subscribers will enjoy the early seasons of Babylon Berlin as well as the premiere of season four.”
The transition of existing subscribers to the newly-expanded MHz Choice will happen over the next several months (presumably to ensure that everyone has uninterrupted service, regardless of the platform you use for your subscription). Regardless of whether you subscribe directly with MHz Choice or through Prime Channels, Roku, or another of the streamer’s partners, the new MHz Choice is maintaining its current subscription price of $7.99/month.
Kino Lorber Chief Operating Officer Martha Benyam will oversee the combined streaming service, with Lisa Schwartz, Kino Lorber Chief Revenue Officer, overseeing distribution and partnerships, and Lance Schwulst, Executive Vice President, Content Strategy, continuing to oversee programming. Monica Bloom, who joined Kino Lorber from Topic, will continue to serve as Chief Marketing Officer.
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“Gereon Rath Mysteries” novels by Volker Kutscher
