NEW YORK — Bowl Championship Series games will move to ESPN starting in January 2011.

The network and the BCS announced a new four-year contract Tuesday. ESPN outbid Fox, which is paying $80 million annually to broadcast the games from 2007-10.

ESPN's offer was for $125 million a year, according to a person with knowledge of the negotiations. The person requested anonymity because the networks are not releasing financial details.

Fox would not offer much more than $100 million annually, the person said.

The deal is the latest in a migration of high-profile sporting events from over-the-air television to cable. But this marks the first time the decisive game in the major U.S. pro sports leagues or NCAA college football or men's basketball will be broadcast on cable.

"You're talking about a situation where we're seeing more and more sporting events go to cable," said BCS coordinator John Swofford, the ACC commissioner. "And certainly I think that the college football community, people who truly follow college football, are extremely well tuned into ESPN and see ESPN as in essence for television the home of college football."

ESPN is available in just over 98 million U.S. homes, which is 86 percent of all households with televisions, according to Nielsen. Swofford expects that number to grow by 2011. Of the people who watched the BCS title game on Fox last season, 95 percent had cable or satellite, ESPN said.

The agreement covers the Fiesta, Orange and Sugar bowls each year and the BCS title game from 2011 to 2013.

The Rose Bowl will continue to be televised on ESPN broadcast partner ABC through 2014 under a separate, previous contract.