FOX, TBS LEAD $3B TV DEAL.

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH Staff Writer

A long-awaited seven-year contract extension announced Tuesday that will allow Fox to continue televising Major League Baseball's regular season, All-Star Game, at least one League Championship Series and the World Series through 2013 was upstaged somewhat by a dual announcement that cable channel TBS will have far more clout over the same time frame.

TBS, the longtime home of the Atlanta Braves, will be the exclusive network for all the MLB's Division Series games starting in 2007. Then, beginning in 2008, it will have 26 exclusive Sunday afternoon national telecasts.

And starting with the end of this season, the network will carry any division or wild-card tiebreaker games -- meaning if the Dodgers tie for the NL West title or the NL wild card at season's end, the game would be on TBS. TBS will also have the MLB All-Star Game Selection show from 2007-2013.

This new package with Fox and TBS is reported to be worth about $3 billion.

TBS' aggressive approach comes as it will televise fewer Braves games. TBS will do 70 Braves games nationally next season, then 45 games on WTBS only in Atlanta from 2008-2013.

``This exclusive coverage will be a fantastic way for baseball fans to begin each October,'' MLB commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement.

Fox, which has had the MLB contract since 1996, has in its new deal exclusive coverage of the ALCS in 2007, '09, '11 and '13, and the NLCS in '08, '10 and '12. The contract as to who would carry the LCS in those alternative seasons is up for bidding by ESPN, TBS or another network.

In the past, Fox has had to move either an NLCS or ALCS game to one of its cable channels if there was any overlap. Fox's Saturday afternoon Game of the Week will also increase from 18 games to 26 starting next year.