The first three weeks of interleague Major League Baseball telecasts on News Corp.'s Fox network rose 12 percent over last year.
Fox, in the third year of a six-year, $2.5billion contract to televise baseball, drew an average of 2.9 percent of the 107 million US homes with televisions for the first three weeks of interleague play this season.
On cable, Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN drew an average of 2.4 percent of the 87 million US households with cable television, up 2 percent from a year ago.
The New York Yankees-New York Mets game on ESPN on June 21 drew 2.6 percent of cable households, the largest audience for the 18-34 male demographic on ESPN's 'Sunday Night Baseball' since July 2000.
The growing interest in interleague Major League Baseball games has seen a significant rise in TV ratings for host broadcasters Fox and ESPN.
