The Big 12 Conference is nearing a cable agreement with Fox that will more than triple the conference’s revenue over its current contract, Sports Business Journal reported Monday.

The long-term deal would pay the 10-team league more than $60 million a year, well up from the $20 million it now receives from its cable contract, industry sources told the Business Journal.

Fox, meanwhile, has been in discussions with eight of the league’s schools about establishing a conference-specific channel for a handful of football games, up to 60 basketball games and Olympic sports. The channel would not include programming from the University of Texas, which has partnered with ESPN on a new Longhorns channel, or the University of Oklahoma, which is planning its own channel, as well.

KU is among the eight Big 12 schools talking to Fox about a college sports channel to carry its events.

The two arrangements — Fox’s cable deal with the league and Fox’s potential channel with the eight teams — are separate conversations, sources told the Sports Business Journal. Fox’s cable deal with the Big 12 must be completed first so that the network knows how much content is available for a conference channel. The conference office is not involved in the talks about a channel for the eight schools.

The Big 12’s current cable contract with Fox runs through the 2011-12 academic year and will pay the league $20 million in the final season.