(Reuters)-The Major League Baseball in the season just ended, but the League is weighing plans for a new television contract potentially worth more than $ 1 billion.
MLB's deals currently with ESPN, Fox and TBS ends after the season of 2013, and the sources said all three networks tend to be involved in the next round of negotiations, which are expected to start off this season. These men said NBC Universal and CBS is also interested in joining the talks.
The dramatic climax of this season's world series between the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals, coupled with the intense demand among network programing viewers watch live, should provide a powerful negotiating leverage in MLB the next round of talks.
World ranking this year series, which aired on Fox, which was hardly a blockbuster but it's still an average of 10.3 million viewers, up about 7 percent from a year ago, driven by six extra-inning game comeback victory for the Cardinals that sparked interest in the team's Game 7 victory last week.
Analysts expect the price of a new deal to increase by 10 percent or more of the League's current contract, which is estimated to be worth about $ 900 million per year.