MTV2 Teams with Ops on Hoops Series

With MTV2’s new basketball series, Nike Battleground: King of the Court, advertising jumps from product placement to the actual title of shows.

The network said Thursday that it’s teaming up with Comcast Corp. and Charter Communications Inc. to launch Nike Battleground next week. The program will star National Basketball Association star and Nike pitchman LeBron James.

MTV2 said the series will focus on “the search for the best hometown basketball players in Chicago and New York, creating two teams that will have an eventual face-off in the series finale.”

MTV said Comcast and Charter will premiere a Nike Battleground preview special on Sept. 7. The preview show will run on MTV2 on Sept. 11, at 8 p.m., and the actual series will premiere on Sept. 18, at 8 p.m. Comcast and Charter will get the series for their on-demand platforms the following week.