Global Showbiz Briefs: BT Nets NBA Games; Comedy Central Has New Overseas Projects; Salman Khan; BAFTA; More

Global Showbiz Briefs: BT Nets NBA Games; Comedy Central Has New Overseas Projects; Salman Khan; BAFTA; More

BT Sport Scores NBA Games In Multi-Year Deal
Britain’s aggressive BT Sport has closed a multi-year, multi-platform deal with the NBA for up to 200 games a season including regular and playoff action. Although BT has been facing off with rival Sky, which previously had the NBA games under a short-term deal, I understand the News Corp-controlled company did not bid on rights for the coming basketball seasons. BT will broadcast up to seven live games per week in the UK and Ireland starting with the Pacers at the Clippers on De cember 1st. Sunday games will air in UK primetime. Also included in the partnership will be several magazine shows like NBA Action, NBA Inside Stuff, NBA Tonight and NBA Countdown, while some games will stream live online.

Related: Will BSkyB’s Soccer Rights Loss Be A Win For British TV Producers?

‘Medics’ & ‘Operation Slut’ In Development For Comedy Central Overseas
Viacom International Media Networks has given a go-ahead to two new projects for its international Comedy Central channels. The shows are destined for outlets outside the U.S. as part of a push to build an overseas pipeline of original comedy and entertainment content. VIMN has ordered a pilot for multi-camera sitcom Medics about a med student struggling to follow in his father’s footsteps. Written by Mark Grimmer, the project is produced by Misfits’ Clerkenwell Films. Meanwhile, an agreement has been signed with writer Tom Edge to adapt the jauntily-titled Operation Slut. The multi-camera sitcom is a satire of modern-day relationships and is based on a script originally written by Taii K Austin (Nurse Jackie, Scrubs, Ugly Betty). The show centers on a 30-year-old neurotic do-gooder who is focused on getting married. However, when the proposal finally comes, she finds she is not ready to settle down, and embarks on a mission to enjoy a variety of men with no attachments or heartbreak.

Eros To Partner On Salman Khan’s ‘Jai Ho’
India’s Eros International is to co-produce the Salman Khan-starrer Jai Ho. Khan, one of Bollywood cinema’s biggest stars, last starred in 2012’s Dabangg 2, which grossed about $ 45M locally. Director Sohail Khan is producing Jai Ho with Sunil Lulla for release on January 24, 2014, over the Republic Day weekend. The movie was originally titled Mental and is a remake of the Telugu film Stalin, itself inspired by the 2000 Kevin Spacey drama Pay It Forward. Jai Ho (which was also the title of the Oscar-winning song from Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire) is being touted as an “out and out entertainer” that showcases Khan “as a hero of the masses in a socially relevant theme.”

BAFTA Sets Hong Kong Outreach
In a bid to extend ties with Asia, BAFTA has organized its first series of events in Hong Kong and has created an advisory board made up of industry figures from Hong Kong and the UK. This weekend and early next week, a delegation from the British Academy will travel to Hong Kong for screenings and meetings. Actor Eddie Redmayne will also participate in an Academy Circle event and an acting masterclass with students at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. BAFTA CEO Amanda Berry says the upcoming activity in Hong Kong is a chance “to bring together the UK and Asian creative communities and engage and i nspire career-starters across the region.”

DHX To Pay $ 160M For Family Channel Package In Canada
Canada’s DHX Media has agreed to acquire Bell Media’s family channel business for about $ 170M Canadian ($ 160M U.S.) in cash. The package inlucdes Family, the most-viewed children’s channel in Canada, as well as Disney XD and Disney Junior’s English and French channels. The transaction is expected to close in 2014 pending regulatory approval. Family has approximately 5.7 million subscribers and an English market share of 29.6% for viewers 2 to 17. Disney XD has 4.5 million subs, Disney Junior in English has 4.9 million and its French counterpart has about 500,000. DHX owns and markets 9,500 hours of children’s programming. Its properties include Yo Gabba Gabba!, Teletubbies and Inspector Gadget.

Deadline.com