Amazon builds with TNT’s Berlin drama 4 Blocks

Amazon has picked up Berlin-set gangster drama 4 Blocks from TNT for a worldwide audience.

From October 4, the series will be available on Prime in more than 150 countries including the US, Canada and the UK.

Elsewhere, 4 Blocks will become available in the summer of 2018 across territories such as Germany, France and Russia. Prior to this, the series will celebrate its German free-to-air TV premiere on ZDFneo starting 28 November.

4 Blocks has already broadcast on TNT Serie in Germany, where it first launched, plus Poland and Romania. TNT plans to air the series in Sweden, Norway and Denmark from November 2.

Hannes Heyelmann, senior vice president and managing director of Central and Eastern Europe and international original programming strategy, said: “With 4 Blocks, we took the risk of financing a series almost entirely on our own, and also handling distribution sales for the first time.

“We believe we have found ideal partners with Amazon Prime Video and ZDFneo to make the series available globally via on-demand as well as on German free-to-air TV. These sales prove that our strategy of telling stories that are clearly locally rooted also work in international sales, and they enable us to invest even more in our productions going forward.”

Both deals were brokered by Lisette Schlippe, director of content licensing for Turner in Central and Eastern Europe and Canada. 4 Blocks was produced by TNT Serie and Wiedemann & Berg.