HDNet Series Sold to NBC Stations

Sports Action Team, an improvisational-comedy series made for HDNet, will get a second season on the Mark Cuban-owned HD channel this fall, when 10 NBC-owned stations have agreed to air first-season episodes.

The semi-scripted series, which “follows the antics of a hapless team of sports reporters who cover the national sports beat,” is produced in HD format by Chicago-based Tower Productions in association with WMAQ, the NBC-owned station in Chicago.

Financed by HDNet, the series is being syndicated by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which said NBC’s 10 owned-and-operated stations, covering 30% of the country, agreed to launch it this fall.

Some NBC stations aired Sports Action Team episodes after National Football League contests on Sunday nights, and the NBC station group has exclusive broadcast syndication rights to the series, the companies said.

The first 17-episode season of the half-hour show lured appearances from Oakland Raiders wide receiver Randy Moss, Late Night host Conan O’Brien, famed coach Mike Ditka and boxing impresario Don King.

After season two airs this fall on HDNet, those episodes will be available for syndication, as well. HDNet said it ordered 15 new episodes.