1. If you wish it so, you can pick it up uncontested. I haven't heard of it so I will research a bit what the ratings are like, but don't expect it to blow away all the other shows. The special events are typically for the BIG things, like the new years eve coverage, super bowl, big professional sports league television contracts, etc.
2. DVD sales and Box Office revenue are handled the same way. When getting the rights to a movie, the Network will have to negotiate and agree to a contract with the producer over how much of each revenue stream each gets. They can go 50-50, 80-20, producer gets DVD sales (which come in over time) and network gets box office revenue (one time sum), vice versa, however they choose to hash it out. Heck, if the producer really needs cash he can just sell the rights to movie and all the revenue for one immediate lump sum of cash, although this is not recommended.