According to Variety, Paramount Pictures has secured rights to "Battle of the Network Stars" and will use it as the catalyst for a star-studded comedy.

Etan Cohen is writing the script, and Jimmy Miller will produce through Mosaic. Barry Frank, who created the show in 1978, will be exec producer.

The pic will revolve around a disgraced network exec who must claw his way back to respectability by winning the contest. Concept was hatched by Cohen.

The original show bowed in the late '70s, with teams of series stars from ABC, NBC and CBS squaring off against one another in athletic events. Howard Cosell presided over the proceedings as soberly as if he were hosting the Olympics.

Miller has strong relationships with comedy stars and is expected to use them. Frank, who's vice chairman of Trans World Intl., the TV arm of sports agency IMG, will exploit his relationship with athletes. The goal is to make an Ocean's Eleven for the comic and jock set.