Starzplay Acquires HBO Max’s ‘Tokyo Vice’ – Mip TV Briefs

Starzplay Acquires HBO’s Max’s Ken Watanabe Crime Thriller Series ‘Tokyo Vice’

HBO Max’s upcoming crime thriller Tokyo Vice is headed to streaming service Starzplay in Europe. The Starz streamer has acquired rights in Austria, Germany, German-speaking Switzerland, Ireland and the U.K. and will debut with two episodes on Sunday May 15. The Endeavor Content series, penned by J.T. Rogers, is loosely based on American journalist Jake Adelstein’s firsthand account of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police in the late 1990s. It stars Ansel Elgort as Adelstein and Hiroto Katagiri, a detective who guides Jake through the neon-soaked underbelly of the city.

DAZN Hires Ex-Sky M&A Exec Alice Mascia For Key European Role

Sports entertainment streamer DAZN has hired former Sky Deutschland exec Alice Mascia as CEO for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. She will join on 1 May to oversee the strategically-important region, where DAZN has rights to the German Bundesliga, UEFA Champions League, Italy’s Serie A and Spain’s La Liga. DAZN has made a series of management shifts in recent months, following Shay Segev’s appointment as group CEO. Mascia’s hire comes soon as Bosco Aranguren was tapped to lead Spain and Franco Bernabè and Stefano Azzi were appointed to oversee Italy.

History Boards Vice & Paramount+’s Doc ‘MH370: The Last Flight’

Cable channel History is among three buyers of Paramount+ and SBS’s upcoming three-part doc MH370: The Lost Flight (working title). TV2 in Denmark and Viaplay (Sweden, Norway, Finland, Poland and pan-Baltic) have also snapped up the three-part series, which Vice Distribution launched at Mip TV this week. MH370: The Last Flight looks into the unexplained disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines flight in March 2014 through the eyes of victims’ families. Paramount+ originally commissioned The Vice World News-produced doc along with Australian public broadcaster SBS.

Paramount’s Pluto TV Adds A+E Networks UK Channels To Its FAST Streaming Service

Paramount’s free streaming service Pluto TV has added a pair of A+E Networks UK channels. Inside Crime UK and Mystery TV are the latest channels to launch on the FAST service, which currently offers 1,000+ channels globally. Inside Crime will offer the likes of Crimes That Shook Britain and Britain’s Darkest Taboos, while Mystery TV will include William Shatner’s supernatural investigations series Weird or What.

Film & TV VFX House Misc Studios Launches In London

London’s latest VFX house is Misc Studios, which post-production veterans Adam Luckwell and Michael Elson have launched this week. The company, based just north of post-production hub Soho, is already working on Amazon drama The Rig, LucasFilm’s Trapper Keeper and Disney+ European original Nautilus. Lucwell and Elson, who also run advertising post house Unit, plan to run Misc with progressive culture based around sustainability and well being.