Major League Baseball rejected a bid by cable-television companies Wednesday to retain the “Extra Innings” package for out-of-market games, saying the terms did not meet demands set by the league.

The cable companies lead by iN Demand, which is the out-of-market and pay-per-view sports arm of Time Warner; Comcast Co.; and Cox Communications, were given until the end of the March to match a seven-year, $700 million offer made by DirecTV Group Inc. earlier this month.

An agreement with DirecTV would extend the 10-year old deal between MLB and the nation’s largest satellite operator to broadcast out-of-market games. In the deal, the El Segundo-based satellite TV provider also gained a stake in the new Baseball Channel.

Major League Baseball said cable companies and EchoStar Communications Corp.’s Dish Network, DirecTV’s largest competitor, can still try to match the deal before the March 31 deadline.

Extra Innings, which features 60 games a week, was available to 75 million cable and satellite customers last year.

If the rival services are unable to reach a deal with baseball, fans would have to subscribe to DirecTV to continue receiving the games. DirecTV has almost 16 million subscribers.

Shares in DirecTV closed up $1.13, or 5 percent, in trading Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.