MHz Choice and Topic Merge Streaming Services, ‘Babylon Berlin’ Featured in Combined Offering

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Streaming video services continue to face challenges like high costs, high churn rates and competition from other media — while a good chunk of U.S. audiences still questions whether the price of their subscriptions is worth it. On average, Americans households that subscribe to streaming video entertainment services said they spend $61 per month for four services, according to Deloitte’s 18th annual Digital Media Trends report.

Full trailer for Prince Andrew feature Scoop has landed.

What To Watch.What to watch: 7 movies and shows to stream this week — March 1What to watch: 7 movies and shows to stream this week — March 8Lindsay Lohan is back with a new Netflix movie. “Irish Wish” follows Lohan as a woman whose ex gets engaged to her best friend. Days before the wedding, she makes a wish, and wakes up days later as the bride to be.

The upcoming sports streaming service from ESPN, Fox & Warner Bros. Discovery has found its boss.

What To Watch.7 must-watch new and returning TV shows coming out this JanuaryWhat to watch: 7 movies and shows to stream this week — March 1Millie Bobby Brown stars in “Damsel,” Netflix’s new film. Brown plays a princess who’s happily engaged to a prince. Things take a turn for the worse when she realizes her engagement was a trap, with the prince throwing her into a cave with a fire-breathing dragon.

A warning has been issued to anyone planning a trip to Spain after an emergency was declared due to a severe water shortage in Tenerife.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Kino Lorber has acquired North American distribution rights to Bruno Dumont’s “The Empire,” a sci-fi satire starring Anamaria Vartolomei (“Happening”), Camille Cottin (“Call My Agent!”), Lyna Khoudri (“The Three Musketeers”) and Fabrice Luchini. “The Empire” just world premiered in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, where it won the Silver Bear Jury Prize.

Warner Bros. has said it will pivot away from “volatile” AAA games to focus on live service and mobile titles.Last month, the company said the launch of Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League “failed” to meet expectations.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Netflix stuck the landing on a star-studded exhibition match between tennis superstars Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz this weekend. Stakes were high on the court, but the Las Vegas showdown was most effective as a lush advertisement for the streamer as a fledgling live sports destination. Taking over the Mandalay Bay’s Michelob Ultra Arena, the inaugural Netflix Slam pit legend Nadal against 20-year-old Alcaraz.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Following its world premiere in the competition section of the Berlin Film Festival, Beta Cinema has revealed first sales across Europe and to Australia and New Zealand for Andreas Dresen’s “From Hilde, With Love.” The drama about anti-Nazi activists in Berlin, which is led by “Babylon Berlin’s” Liv Lisa Fries and introduces Johannes Hegemann in his first big screen appearance, will be released in France by Haut et Court, in Italy by Teodora and throughout Scandinavia by Angel Films. Beta Cinema also closed deals for Benelux (September Film), Portugal (Outsider), former Yugoslavia (Discovery), Hungary (Cirko) and Czech Republic (Film Europe). Palace Film picked up the film for Australia and New Zealand.

Babylon Berlin has landed a new U.S. home on a newly-merged streaming service created as Kino Lorber’s MHz Choice and Topic combine.

Fox Corp. streaming service Tubi has updated its brand identity, with a new logo whose letters are designed to echo the company’s invitation to viewers to “find your rabbit hole.”

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Whoopi Goldberg, famed EGOT and business mogul, is adding another entry to her résumé: streaming entrepreneur. Goldberg is an equity investor in Blkfam, billed as the first and only Black-owned and Black-focused family streaming platform. The free, ad-supported service launches Feb.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor It’s the end of the road for Warner Bros. Discovery‘s MotorTrend+ automotive streaming service. The media company announced that MotorTrend+ will be shut down after content from the service is fully migrated to Discovery+ and Max at the end of March.

What To Watch.What to watch: 7 movies and shows to stream this week — February 9What to watch: 7 movies and shows to stream this week — February 16“Avatar: The Last Airbender” has been much discussed by Netflix, who’s adapting one of the most beloved animated shows of all time. The story is set in a world split up in four: the Fire Nation, the Water Tribe, the Earth Kindgom, and the Air Nomads. Within each nation there are benders, people who can manipulate these elements.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor After a year hit with Hollywood strikes and an early buzz positioning Christopher Nolan’s drama about the creation of the atomic bomb as a frontrunner, sentiments from more than a dozen Oscar voters on the first day of final voting revealed a strong backing for Nolan. “Nolan fucking deserves it,” an anonymous voter emphasizes to Variety, highlighting the widespread acclaim for Nolan’s direction and billion-dollar blockbuster.

Adam Sandler was presented with the Icon Award at the People’s Choice Awards on Sunday night. The problem was, he went up and accepted something entirely different — and way less appropriate!

Pay deals in the U.S. and the streamer reset’s impact on international TV development were among the topics at the opening panel of the Berlinale Series Market this morning in Europe.

Hollywood star Jeremy Renner has talked about his tough year after suffering devastating injuries in a snowplough accident.

Naman Ramachandran British actor Solly McLeod‘s career is on an upward trajectory with Berlin-premiering “Last Swim” and Viggo Mortensen-directed “The Dead Don’t Hurt,” which premiered at Toronto 2023 and is bound for Glasgow next. Set over a hot summer day in London as the high-school year is ending, “Last Swim,” from feature debutant Sasha Nathwani, follows British-Iranian teen Ziba (Deba Hekmat) as she leads her friends on an eventful journey across the city, culminating in a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event. McLeod plays Shea, one of the key members of the group.