CEO Biography

Frederick Thomas

One World, One Man. 

Frederick Thomas is the founder and CEO of MHz Networks, which has brought more international television programming into America than all other U.S. based broadcast television networks combined. 

Over the course of 15 years, Mr. Thomas has been steadfast in the pursuit of non-U.S. based programming which is easily accessible for American audiences. Whether through foreign films –  110 titles representing 55 countries at last count – or the widest range of international news from such trusted brands as NHK World TV, Al Jazeera, Deutsche Welle, France 24, SABC, RAI, FujiSankei, France 2, IBA, RTVE, CCTV, TVE, Russia Today, B92 and ANI – or exposure to world sports such as Australian Rules Football, Gaellic Hurling, International Rugby, or Soccer –  Americans have come to count on MHz Networks’ as the easiest way to discover the world without leaving home. 

From the get-go, Thomas’ vision was to build MHz Networks as an independent, public media organization which promotes world perspective and understanding through all forms of electronic communication. Through MHz Worldview, the Network’s national television channel, Americans can access a wide range of international news, dramas, documentaries, sports and films – all in English.

Today, MHz Worldview is available in over half of the top-20 U.S. television markets – nearly 34 million households with individual programs available through video broadband and online outlets such as YouTube and the Netflix box. 

MHz Networks works with many of the world’s top news and informational networks including France 24, Al Jazeera English, Deutsche Welle, RT, SABC, ANI and RAI.  

Prior to creating MHz Networks, Thomas worked as an Independent Media Consultant where he trained top television executives and upper management around the world, with an emphasis on the former Soviet bloc countries of Slovakia, Romania, Estonia, and Armenia.  

Earlier in his career, he worked as General Manager and Programming Director of WNVC (the predecessor of MHz Networks), where he conceived of and created WNVC’s World View TV, an international program format which featured native-language international news, foreign films from over 50 countries and documentaries. He was responsible for negotiating dozens of program rights agreements and building new revenue models to offset the decline in Federal and State dollars. 

Mr. Thomas has also served as Executive Producer of a wide range of original productions including:  The Washington Post Foreign Service, MHz Presents (regional Emmy Award), MHz Global (regional Billboard Music Award) Dialogue, Hablemos de Salud, Diver(c)ity (regional Emmy Award).  In collaboration with the Washington Post, MHz has won two Edward R. Murrow awards from the RTNDA.

Frederick Thomas is a board member of the Open Mobile Video Coalition which has set technical and consumer standards for mobile TV in the U.S.; is a member of the International Telly Awards; and is a graduate of American University with a Masters Degree of Communications and a BA in American Studies.

The MHz Networks Programming Library Has Included International Films.  At last count feature films from 55 different countries, spanning 8 decades of filmmaking, and exposing Washington, D.C. area television viewers to material never seen on U.S. small screens, and in many cases, big screens either.
 
The Bicycle Thief (Italy) 
Orpheus (France)
The Seven Samurai (Japan) 
Viridiana (Spain)
Picnic At Hanging Rock (Australia) 
Bye Bye Brazil (Brazil)
Woman in the Dunes (Japan) 
War and Peace (Soviet Union)
Solaris (Soviet Union) 
The Third Man (U.K.)
 The Apu Trilogy (India) 
Xala (Senegal)
Ceddo (Senegal) Knife in the Water (Poland)
Battleship Potemkin (Soviet Union) 
Ivan the Terrible (Soviet Union)
Andrei Rublev (Soviet Union) 
The Seventh Sea (Sweden)
The Battle of Algiers (U.K.) 
L’Avventura (Spain)
Boudou Saved From Drowning (France) 
The Children of Paradise
Diary of a Country Priest (Czechoslovakia) 
La Dolce Vida (Italy)
Ikiru (Japan) 
Jules and Jim (France)
M (Germany) 
Metropolis (Germany)
Nosferatu (Germany) 
The Red Desert
Rocco and His Brothers (Italy) 
Ugetsu (Japan)
Viridiana (Italy) 
Panther Panchali (India)
Rashomon (Japan) 
L’Age d’Or/Un Chien Andalou (France)
Le Boucher (France / Italy) 
The Earrings of Madame de… (France / Italy)
8 ½ (Italy) 
Gallipoli (Australia)
White Sun of the Desert (Russia) 
Ballad of a Soldier (Soviet Union)
Mon Oncle (France) 
The Overlanders (Australia)
Breathless (France)
End of a Priest (Czechoslovakia)
In the Land of the Deaf (Italy / France / U.K.) 
World of Strangers (South Africa / Denmark)
Knocks at My Door (Venezuela / Argentina / Cuba) 
Boy of the Terraces (Tunisia / France)
A Women’s Story (Japan) Jasek’s Dream (Slovakia)
Horse Thief (Turkey) 
Loves of a Blonde (Czechoslovakia)
Dust in the Wind (Taiwan) 
Mr. Hulot’s Holiday (France)
Camp de Thiaroye (Algeria / Senegal) 
I Am Cuba (Cuba)
Faces of Women (Ivory Coast) 
The Conjugal Bed (Italy)
The Shooting Party (Soviet Union) 
Wages of Fear (France / Italy)
Crows and Sparrows (China) 
Black Dju (Belgium)
Field Lillies  The Trial (U.K.)
Angry Harvest (West Germany) 
Two Friends (France)
Night of the Jackal (Syria) 
Zulu (U.K.)
Beijing Watermelon (Japan) 
My Name is Ivan (Soviet Union)
Anna Karenina (Soviet Union) 
I Vitelloni (Italy)
Yaaba (Senegal) The Cranes are Flying (Soviet Union)
Throne of Blood (Japan) Antigone (Greece)
The Burmese Harp  

The International Mystery Series.  An MHz original series, bringing some of the worlds greatest on-screen detectives to American audiences since 1999. 

Maigret, France, 54 episodes staring Bruno Cremer, 1991 – 2005.
Tatort, Germany, 42 episodes.  Martin Beck, Sweden, 26 episodes, 1997 – 2009. 
Il Commissario Montalbano, Italy, 18 episodes staring Luca Zingaretti, 1999 – 2008. 
La Piovra / The Octopus, Italy, 1984 – 2001. 
Kavanagh QC,  U.K., staring John Thaw, 1995 – 2001.  
Sherlock Holmes, Russia, 11 episodes staring Vasily Livanov, 1979 – 1986. 

International News.  Since 1994, the disclaimer before MHz newscasts has said it all:  “The following program is brought to you unedited, from the source”.  
• RAI Uno (Italy)  
• Al Jazeera English (Qatar)
• DW (Germany)  
• TVP (Poland)   
• France 2, 5 and 24 (France) 
• ITN (U.K.)
• NHK (Japan)   
• Fujisankei (Japan)
• Russia World (Russia) 
• CCTV (China)
• KBS (Korea)   
• ANI (India)
• Bolivision (Bolivia)  
• IBA (Israel)   
• TVE (Spain)
• PKT (Pakistan) 
 
Sports. 
• FIFA Football matches (quarter finals, semi finals, and finals) from 1978, 1982, 1986, and 1990 World Cups.
• Australian Rules Football League (AFL) weekly match and Grand Finals, 1998 – 2009.
• Gaellic Games (Ireland), 1995 – 1999. 
• Weekly matches from the German Bundesliga 1997-1999.
• Italian Seri A, 1994 – 2000.
• Primera Division de Mexico, 1997-1999.
• Primera Division de Argentina, 1997-1999. 
• Six Nations Rugby Cup, 2009. 

You can contact him at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  or 703-770-7169.