Even as Goldman Sachs Group and Providence Equity Partners plan their exit from New York Yankees' regional sports network YES, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is reportedly working toward picking up a minority stake in the network. Certain reports suggest that News Corp is closing in on a 40 percent stake although there is no official confirmation yet on this development.

Most of this stake will likely come from the stake sales by Goldman Sachs Group and Providence Equity Partners. Pertinent to note that the Yankees also hold a stake in the network founded by their late owner George Steinbrenner.

The anticipated deal is apparently based on a valuation of the sports network at about $3 billion. This valuation is largely impacted by the current uptrend in the fees for sports rights and values in the region. Networks that hold the sports rights to popular sporting events are seen to be clocking impressive returns. As per reports, YES generates more than $200 million in annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

YES holds the rights to games from the Major League Baseball team Yankees, and the National Basketball Association's Brooklyn Nets, among others. A stake in YES will further fuel News Corp's own ambition of launching a national sports channel in the coming year. The company is gearing up to compete with NBC Universal's NBC Sports and Walt Disney Co's ESPN. In a similar vein, News Corp is also reportedly trying to retain the rights to broadcast Los Angeles Dodgers baseball games.

It may be recalled that News Corp has recently acquired ESPN's partnership interest in ESPN STAR Sports. The company, as on September 30, 2012, had total assets of about $60 billion and total annual revenues of about $34 billion.