by Michael Hiestand, USA TODAY Sports

The seven Catholic basketball schools who have broken away from the Big East have begun exploring TV deals.

Representatives of the schools — DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John’s and Villanova — were meeting Wednesday in New York with representatives from Fox Sports, a person with direct knowledge of the discussions confirmed to USA TODAY Sports. SI.com first reported the discussions.

The person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions, said that a deal is not expected to be done soon because the group has not decided how many teams its new league will have.

CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus told USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday that “we’re already interested (in the new league) and have expressed our interest to them.”

Like NBC’s cable channel and a Fox sports channel expected to be launched this year, McManus said the new league could provide more event programming to the CBS Sports Network cable channel.

The seven schools and the Big East are in talks to determine the timing of the group’s exit.

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