Kenya Barris 50 Cent and Shaquille O'Neal Pool Resources to Purchase BET

Back in March it was reported that Byron Allen, Sean 'Diddy' Combs and Tyler Perry were each interested in purchasing BET [click here if you missed that]. 

Now Kenya Barris, 50 Cent and Shaquille O'Neal have join forces to explore purchasing the network...

From TMZ

Sources with direct knowledge tell us 50 and Kenya were spotted at the Paramount offices in NYC earlier this week to talk business, and the possibility of buying the network.

As for the cash ... we're told 50, Shaq and Kenya are fully loaded and ready to make an offer with some help from CVC -- an investment company.

Of course, there's still a lot to be worked out before anything is finalized, as one source told us, "It's not a done deal, but they're deep in it."