Media Notes

"Playmakers" Goes Int'l With FX Deal

ESPN: DAILY VARIETY's Elizabeth Guider reported ESPN's "Playmakers" has been licensed to U.K. pay TV channel FX, giving the net exclusive U.K. pay rights. The deal is the first int'l sale of "Playmakers" (VARIETY.com, 1/18)....In Dallas, Barry Horn noted ESPN's "SportsCenter" aired a jailhouse interview with former NFLer Dexter Manley yesterday night, two nights before HBO's "Real Sports" is scheduled to do the same. Horn: "This marks at least the fourth time ESPN has beaten Real Sports to the punch by two nights. Coincidence? If you vote 'yes,' you don't know TV" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 1/17).

NBA: DAILY VARIETY's John Dempsey reported NBA TV has launched "NBA TV Screening Room," a weekly series showcasing documentaries about basketball. Next Sunday's series premiere is "Whatever Happened to Michael Ray," an Emmy-winning documentary on former NBAer Michael Ray Richardson co-produced by the NBA and TNT, and narrated by Chris Rock (VARIETY.com, 1/18)....During Saturday's broadcast of T'Wolves-Rockets, ABC's Michele Tafoya reported "over 97,000 visits have been received by" the Rockets' Chinese version of their Web site. Tafoya: "Sixty-three percent of that traffic comes from mainland China, and I'm also told that (Rockets C) Yao Ming's page on NBA.com is the most visited of any player's in the NBA" (ABC, 1/17).