Someone once said: "It ain't over until the fat lady sings!"

Though it looked as though the fat lady was tuning up when The CW network canceled the Mara Brock Akil-produced sitcom 'The Game' back in late May, sources tell me that BET may be close to finalizing a deal to actually be the new home of the sports-themed comedy.

On April 28, in my story 'BET & The Game: Is There A Marriage In The Works?' I reported that Debra Lee, CEO of Black Entertainment Television told me that BET had serious interest in acquiring the show.

"We have been in discussions with them. It's a question as to if we could make the budget work," Lee told me exclusively at the time.

Well it looks as though Lee is a woman of her word!

A network source tells me that BET's new co-President Loretha Jones has been aggressively working to secure the budget to make the deal a reality.

"It's closer than most think to being finalized," a network source told me off the record.

From a business standpoint, BET airing a new season of 'The Game' would help kick-start their pursuit to be in the scripted programming business a la TBS and Lifetime.

Additionally, since ratings for the re-runs of 'The Game' on BET outperform most original programming on the network, airing new episodes of the sitcom could be a ratings juggernaut for the channel.

Though this deal is not finalized yet, just know that the final buzzer has not sounded on 'The Game.'

A rep for BET was unavailable for comment at press time.

'The Game' premiered on The CW on October 1, 2006 as a spin-off of the sitcom 'Girlfriends.'

The show stars Tia Mowry, Pooch Hall, Wendy Raquel Robinson, Hosea Chanchez, Coby Bell and Brittany Daniel.