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NEW YORK — Viacom Inc. says it has won exclusive rights in the U.S. to air "Michael Jackson's This Is It" on its MTV and BET cable networks starting in 2011.
Director Kenny Ortega, a longtime Jackson collaborator who was overseeing his concert comeback, crafted the nearly two-hour film from more than 100 hours of footage recorded during rehearsals for the London shows, which were to have begun in July. Jackson died June 25 at age 50.
The Sony Pictures film, which paid $60 million for film rights to Jackson's rehearsal footage, has already pulled in more than $200 million in worldwide box office returns.
Viacom, led by Sumner Redstone, said Tuesday its rights to the movie last six years and cover all of the domestic cable channels in its MTV and BET networks division. Terms were not disclosed.
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