In Sports Streaming Milestone, Sinclair’s Bally Sports+ Sets Nationwide Launch Date

Manori Ravindran International Editor More than a year since SkyShowtime was first announced, the SVOD is ready to join the streaming fray in Europe, Variety can reveal. The new platform — a joint venture between Comcast and Paramount Global that was first unveiled in August 2021 — will officially launch on Sept. 20 in the Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, before expanding into the Netherlands later this year in Q4. (The service received regulatory approval in Europe back in February.) Meanwhile, the SVOD will continue its roll out across Spain, Portugal, Andorra, and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) over the coming months and through Q1 of 2023. CEE markets include Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Naman Ramachandran Bhutanese filmmaker Dechen Roder’s new film, “I, The Song,” which is selected at the Venice Production Bridge’s gap financing market, will commence principal photography in December. Roder’s debut feature “Honeygiver Among the Dogs” premiered at Busan in 2016, and went on to have a successful festival run including at Berlin, Locarno, Hong Kong, Taipei and Fribourg, where it won three major awards. “I, The Song” was born when two friends of Roder experienced the horror of being in non-consensual pornographic videos and photos in Bhutan, where in both cases it was recorded and shared without their knowledge or consent.

Halo Infinite developer 343 Industries has set a November release date for the shooter’s level-editor Forge Mode, however it’s also been confirmed that plans to implement split-screen co-op have been abandoned.While Forge Mode was originally planned to launch in September, the latest roadmap for Halo Infinite states it will now be released as a beta on November 8.The Forge Mode beta will be introduced as part of a Winter Update for Halo Infinite, which will also include networked co-op and a mission replay system for the game’s campaign. However, the long-awaited campaign co-op will no longer include split-screen functionality, something that was originally promised by 343 Industries.“In order to improve and accelerate ongoing live service development, and to better address player feedback and quality of life updates, we have reallocated studio resources and are no longer working on local campaign split-screen co-op,” shared the developer.Elsewhere in Halo Infinite‘s Winter Update, players can expect a 30-tier battle pass, two new multiplayer maps – titled Detachment and Argyle – and Covert One Flag, a new game mode.Looking ahead, the Halo Infinite roadmap also outlines what will be included in the Echoes Within update, which is dated for March 7 to June 27.

Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the NBA’s Washington Wizards and the NHL’s Washington Capitals, has acquired full control of regional TV network NBC Sports Washington.

Wilson Chapman editorWeeks before its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, military drama film “The Inspection” has received a first trailer from A24. The distributor has also set a Nov. 18 theatrical release date.“The Inspection” is the narrative debut for writer-director Elegance Bratton, who previously helmed the feature documentary “Pier Kids,” which followed homeless queer youth in New York, and the Vice docuseries “My House,” which followed competitive ballroom dancing.Bratton pulled from his own experiences as a gay man in Marine Corps basic training during the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell era for “The Inspection.” The drama stars Jeremy Pope as Ellis French, a troubled man who enlists after being rejected by his mother (Gabrielle Union).

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, the follow-up to Rian Johnson’s Knives Out, will be released globally on Netflix December 23, Netflix announced.

tells Netflix. “This is all in plain sight from the very start.

Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz are stepping out for a bite to eat.

Just a bit ago, I learned that Robert Douglas Dalton—best known as Roman Polanski’s long-time lawyer—had died.

Strictly Come Dancing contestant Kym Marsh has enjoyed a romantic break with her husband Scott Ratcliff before taking to the dancefloor. The former Coronation Street star, who was the second star to be announced for the 2020 line-up after fellow former Corrie actor Will Mellor, shared a series of loved-up snaps of herself and Scott taking some precious time out together in the Lake District.

The new series of Strictly Come Dancing will kick off on September 17, former contestant and TV presenter AJ Odudu has announced.The 34-year-old, who was forced to withdraw from the final of the dancing competition last year after suffering a torn ligament, revealed the news on The Big Breakfast alongside co-host Mo Gilligan. She said: “We do have the exclusive that the launch of Strictly Come Dancing 2022 is going to be September 17.

The Kaley Cuoco-Pete Davidson romantic comedy movie we first told you about, Meet Cute, will hit Peacock on Wednesday, Sept. 21.

Love Island 's Indiyah Polack has been photographed looking stunning as she joined partner Dami Hope for lunch. The waitress and model, 23, who recently went on a trip to meet her other half's family, was seen stepping out in London's Leicester Square on her way to meet her beau.

Michaela Zee editorSomething sinister is lurking in the shadows. Netflix has shared a special first look at “Cabinet of Curiosities,” its upcoming horror anthology series from Academy Award-winning director Guillermo del Toro.

Wilson Chapman editorEverybody’s gonna be kung fu fighting — a fourth film in the “Kung Fu Panda” series will release in 2024, Universal Pictures announced Friday.The film, which is slated for a March 8, 2024 release, will be the first film in the “Kung Fu Panda” franchise since 2016, when the DreamWorks Animation series concluded a planned trilogy. The films focus on Po (Jack Black), an excitable panda bear living in a fantasy version of ancient China.