Paramount Global said it expanded its relationship with Ice Cube and his Cube Vision production company by agreeing to a first-look TV production deal. 

Under the terms of the deal, Ice Cube and Jeff Kwatinetz, chief operating officer of Cube Vision and Ice Cube’s producing partner, will develop and executive produce projects for broadcast, cable and streaming platforms across Paramount. 

One new scripted project is already in development at Paramount’s Showtime Studios.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

“Ice Cube is a bona fide powerhouse whose enduring impact on music, film, tv and sports resonates with generations of fans,” said Nina L. Diaz, [resident of Content and CCO at Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios. “It’s a privilege to build on our relationship with Cube Vision and continue to bring his trailblazing storytelling to audiences around the world.” 

Paramount already has been working with O'Shea Jackson Sr., also known as Ice Cube, a member of the seminal rap group N.W.A. 

Paramount’s CBS airs Ice Cube’s Big3 Basketball League, his Hip Hop Squares appeared on VH1 and he was featured in Paramount’s movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.

“We are excited to expand on our successful partnership with Paramount through this unique television deal,” Ice Cube and Kwatinetz said in a statement. “This deal provides us with everything we need to bring amazing and authentic stories to television working with the best writers, showrunners and television innovators in the entire business.  We are thrilled to collaborate with Nina, Chris [McCarthy], and the rest of the All-Star Paramount Global team to build upon the great work we’ve done together.”

NBA legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson, just days after stepping down as president of the Los Angeles Lakers, has joined Big3 Networks in its bid to win 21 Fox regional sports networks.

Rapper Ice Cube, who along with entrepreneur Jeffrey Kwatinetz formed the three-on-three professional basketball league in 2017, said in a tweet Wednesday that Johnson had joined Big3 in its bid for the networks.

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Johnson stepped down as president of basketball operations for the Lakers earlier this month. 

It was unclear as to whether Johnson will provide financial support for Big3’s bid -- it already has some backing from private equity player Centerbridge Partners and investment banker Macquarie Group. Earlier, Big3 said it had lined up actor Will Smith, tennis star Serena Williams and rapper Snoop Dogg as content partners if its bid for the Fox RSNs prevails.

Big3 is among a handful of bidders that have pledged upwards of $10 billion for the channels. According to sources and published reports, Liberty Media and Sinclair Broadcast Group have submitted bids as well. Liberty, run by cable legend John Malone, has apparently joined with Major League Baseball in its bid for the channels. Liberty also owns the Atlanta Braves baseball team.

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The networks were acquired by The Walt Disney Co. as part of its $71.3 billion purchase of certain 21st Century Fox programming assets. Disney agreed to divest of the RSNs as a condition of the U.S. Dept. of Justice’s approval of the larger deal, which closed on March 20. Disney agreed to sell off the RSNs within 90 days of the Fox closing, meaning it has until June 18 to finalize the sale of the sports networks.

Disney also could spin-off the RSNs into a separate public entity to satisfy the government's conditions, but it would need the DOJ's permission to do so. 

Big3 has accused Charter Communications of trying to manipulate the bidding process. Sources confirmed reports that Big3 is scheduled to meet with the Justice department to discuss the matter.

Big3 Networks, the three-on-three professional basketball league that is among the bidders for 21 Fox regional sports networks currently on the block, claimed in letters to two government agencies that threats by Charter Communications to "preemptively drop" the channels is affecting the auction for the networks.

Big3, led by rapper Ice Cube and investor Jeffrey Kwatinetz, said in letters to both the U.S. Dept. of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission on April 11 that it had held preliminary talks with Charter about possible carriage of the channels should it be the winning bidder. After some brief discussions, Big3 claims Charter broke off talks, which it says could harm its ability to bid successfully for the channels.

Charter’s actions, Big3 claims, are especially curious since one of the cable company’s largest shareholders -- Liberty Media -- is also a bidder for the Fox RSNs. Final bids for the channels are expected to be in by April 15. 

In the DOJ letter, Big3 said gaining Charter carriage is critical to the success of whichever company owns the Fox RSNs, given Charter systems account for about 25% of the channels’ potential customers.

“Charter’s conduct raises serious questions regarding the integrity of the divestiture sale and whether Liberty may be using its controlling position over Charter to tilt the bidding process in its favor,” the programmer said in its letter to the DOJ. "It has been suggested to Big3’s ownership that Charter has disseminated its threat to drop the RSNs to other members of the industry, thereby suppressing auction prices, chilling bidding, and ultimately hurting Disney’s ability to secure the best price for the RSNs."

Big3 stressed that it was not seeking a firm carriage offer from Charter, but rather “guidance and visibility into Charter’s business plans and assurances that Charter would not completely drop the RSNs, as it has indicated. Otherwise, Charter’s conduct risks effectively excluding Big3 from the bidding process and tainting the auction.”

Related: RSN Redux 

In a statement, Charter said it “currently has an agreement to carry these networks and welcomes the opportunity to discuss a future carriage agreement for these networks with whomever ultimately owns them including Big3. Regardless of who owns the programming, we approach all negotiations with the same singular objective of reaching carriage agreements that best meet the needs of our customers.”

In a press release, Big3 co-owner Ice Cube said he doesn’t believe Charter’s response rings true.

“The Big3 is not part of the old boys club and that doesn't sit well with a company like Charter, which has been called out many times for unfair treatment of minority organizations and for consistent disregard of its own customers,” Ice Cube said in the relaese. “In response to our filing, Charter says they are willing to talk to ‘whomever.’ Given their consistent animosity toward diverse ownership groups with inclusive messages like ours, we say we don’t believe them. Anyone who looks at the facts won’t either. They have done everything they can to keep us from owning these RSN’s and that’s why we have asked the FCC and the DOJ to investigate.”

Ice Cube is not the only African-American programming executive to accuse Charter of bias. In 2016, Entertainment Studios Networks founder, chairman and CEO Byron Allen filed a $10 billion discrimination suit against Charter, claiming the operator did not give the same opportunities to minority-owned networks that it did to white-owned channels. That case is still pending.  

Related: Court Won't Dismiss Allen Suit Against Charter

Big3 hopes to use the RSNs as a foundation for a new national network with a range of sports, youth and culture programming.

Initially, analysts had estimated the RSNs would attract bids upwards of $20 billion. But the reality of adding expensive channels to linear programming distributors in an environment where consumers are striving to pay less, not more, for programming has driven down the price tag to around $10 billion. In addition to Liberty and Big3, other potential bidders include Major League Baseball and television station group Sinclair Broadcasting.

Disney put the RSNs up for auction in October, part of the conditions for federal approval of its $71.3 billion purchase of certain 21st Century Fox assets. The channels include networks in markets like Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, Detroit, Minneapolis and Kansas City. In a separate deal, The YES Network, owned by Fox and the New York Yankees, has essentially hammered out an agreement where the baseball team will buy out Fox’s 80% interest -- with the help of private equity and Amazon -- for about $3.5 billion. 

The Walt Disney Co.’s months-long effort to sell 22 regional sports networks might be getting close to wrapping up, now that Disney’s deadline clock has formally begun.

Disney said it would sell the RSNs as a condition to winning federal approval of its $71.3 billion purchase of 21st Century Fox programming and production assets. As part of that agreement, Disney agreed to have sale agreements in place within 90 days after closing the larger Fox deal, which occurred on March 20.

According to people familiar with the auction process, the next round of bids — most likely the final round, given the 90-day window — is due in mid-April. At press time, the leaders appeared to be a team owners’ group, including John Malone’s Liberty Media; and Major League Baseball itself.

Whether or not that means a winning bid will be picked in April still remains to be seen. The 90-day deadline to close the sale would mean a deal would have to be done by June 18. But those same people familiar with the auction said that as long as progress is being made, an extension could be applied for, which would push the deadline to Sept. 16.

Bidders Have Had Time to Ponder

Disney began this process in June 2018, after the Justice Department approved the Fox transaction. Books on the networks went out in October.

One deal is done or at least is in the eighth inning, metaphorically: YES Network’s sale to the New York Yankees. The Yankees, which own 20% of the channel and had the right of first refusal to purchase Fox’s 80% interest in the event of a sale, exercised that right earlier this month, teaming up with Amazon, Sinclair Broadcast Group and several private-equity firms to buy it for an estimated $3.5 billion, less than the $4 billion most expected the network to fetch. When the deal closes, the Yankees will own the majority of the channel.

While the YES deal hasn’t been officially announced, most observers believe that is merely a formality as the network is waiting until the other RSNs are closer to a sale before making the big reveal.

Sinclair, which in February announced a partnership with the Chicago Cubs for an RSN called Marquee Sports that will launch in 2020, is apparently still interested in adding to that portfolio. During an earnings conference call on Feb. 27, Sinclair CEO Christopher Ripley alluded to reports concerning opportunities that Sinclair may have in the space.

RELATED STORY: Fox Closes Disney Deal, Issues Affiliate-Fee Warning

“I can’t comment specifically on those reports, due to non-disclosure agreements we’ve signed,” Ripley said. “But there is a very unique moment in time here in the RSN space that we really like our positioning on.”

There have been a steady stream of potential suitors for the remaining RSN assets. Private-equity firms like Apollo Global Asset Management; consortiums of teams and investors; rapper Ice Cube, and others have all expressed interest.

According to Fox Business Network’s Charlie Gasparino, Disney and MLB were discussing “add-ons” to the league’s bid, mainly a “national rights extension” that would allow the league to air some games on ESPN that the RSNs own the rights to.

Gasparino said those discussions seemed to hint that MLB was in the lead.

One source familiar with Big 3 Networks, the professional three-on-three basketball league owned in part by Ice Cube, said it remains very much in the hunt for the channels. Big 3 has secured partial backing from boutique PR firm Centerbridge Partners.

Malone was said to be interested mainly to protect the interests of the team Liberty owns, the Atlanta Braves. There was a fear among owners of smaller market teams that an outside buyer would allocate more resources to networks with teams in larger cities, leaving the smaller markets in the lurch.

Other team owners have reportedly entered the fray as well. Platinum Equity chief Tom Gores, who also owns the National Basketball Association’s Detroit Pistons, has conferred with Malone about a bid, as has Minnesota Twins owner Jim Pohlad. Other baseball teams including the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Los Angeles Angels (owner Arte Moreno was reportedly interested in bidding on Fox Sports West, Prime Ticket, Fox Sports Arizona and Fox Sports San Diego) and the Milwaukee Brewers have also considered making bids, according to reports.

Bids Seem to Be Coming In Low

Unfortunately for Disney, the networks, including Fox Sports channels in Atlanta, Detroit, Kansas City and Phoenix, have reportedly attracted bids in the $10 billion range, or about half of the $20 billion first expected.

The emergence of Malone was said to have raised the price slightly — to maybe as high as $13 billion — but still below the original target.

Live sports and news are primarily the two remaining areas of programming that are attracting meaningful ad dollars. And sports on RSNs consistently place high in the ratings.

But regional sports networks have distribution concerns. Already saddled with a reputation of being too costly — YES Network, according to Kagan, a unit of S&P Global Market Intelligence, costs distributors about $6.50 per subscriber per month — they have been placed on tiers by most cable and satellite service providers, which limits their audience.

“With the 90-day clock beginning with the close of the Disney/21st Century Fox sale, and YES not getting its full estimated value, I don’t think the other RSNs will be able to either,” Kagan sports analyst Adam Gajo said in an email message.

TBS talk show host Conan O’Brien, a pioneer in social media and online video, surpassed 2 billion views on his Team Coco You Tube channel, with fans clocking in more than 6.2 billion minutes of viewing time.

The channel features clips from current and past episodes of TBS’ CONAN, in addition to online-exclusive music and comedy. The You Tube channel has about 3.5 million subscribers.

Among that content is "Ice Cube, Kevin Hart and Conan Help a Student Driver" a segment that has generated about 26 million video views on YouTube and the Team Coco website since debuting Jan. 5, making it the most watched clip in the history of CONAN on TBS. The remote features the stars of Universal Pictures' Ride Along 2, Ice Cube and Kevin Hart.

CONAN airs Monday-Thursday at 11 p.m. (ET/PT) on TBS. The show is produced by Conaco LLC, with Jeff Ross serving as executive producer.