In a bid to encourage kids to tune into the 27th Olympics, NBC and New York-based Scholastic have partnered up to produce an educational series that will air during the 2000 summer Games in Sydney, Australia. Weekdays from September 18 to September 29, MSNBC will air Scholastic at the Olympic Games in an after-school time slot.

The 10 x two-hour, live-action special will profile athletes, recap events and focus on sports of interest to kids. Scholastic will also throw in some Australian geography lessons and educational segments on the Games. On September 28, the women’s soccer gold medal game will air in the time slot, and at half time, kids will be given tips on how to improve their game. The series will be promoted through Scholastic’s classroom magazines, children’s book clubs and book fairs, and at its Web site (www.scholastic.com). There will also be a link to NBC’s www.NBCOlympics.com. Funding for the special falls within NBC’s Olympic Programming budget, and distribution rights are held by the net, which also has U.S. broadcast and cable rights for the Summer and Winter Olympics from 2000 until 2008.

In other sporting news, Scholastic acquired the assets of Fairfield, Connecticut-based magazine pubco Triplepoint for an undisclosed sum. The deal gives Scholastic Soccer Jr. Magazine, along with all of Triplepoint’s sports Web sites for kids.