Washington - The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal from Major League Baseball in a move that will give fantasy sports leagues the rights to use players' names and statistics without paying a license fee. The initial court ruling in favor of fantasy sports league operators came in 2005, and MLB and its players' association appealed to the Supreme Court in February, arguing that players should retain control over the use of their names and likenesses, and that such licenses are worth billions of dollars.

Washington - XM Satellite Radio (NASD: XMSR), the satellite radio provider awaiting government approval to merge with rival Sirius, disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it must come up with $120 million in financial commitments to avoid an "adverse effect" on its financial position.

New York - WePlay, an online community for youth sports, has secured $1.87 in Series A-1 funding, from investors including Pequot Private Equity, Creative Artists Agency and Major League Baseball, PEHub.com reported, citing a regulatory filing.

Los Angeles - Major League Baseball (MLB) has switched vendors for the digital rights management (DRM) software protecting its downloadable games from piracy, rendering games downloaded before 2006 unwatchable, while also declining to provide refunds for the purchases, Ars Technica reported.

New York - Major League Baseball on Tuesday announced that it will test Medialink's Teletrax digital watermarking service to monitor usage of its postseason game video by broadcasters. In addition to tracking potential unauthorized uses, the service will be able to track the visibility of sponsors' logos during telecasts, and report back on impressions. Separately, MLB.com said on Tuesday that it will host the first-ever World Series of Fantasy Baseball, which will pit the season champions from MLB.com, CBSSports.com, ESPN.com and SportingNews.com in a postseason tournament.

San Francisco - StubHub, an online ticket marketplace and unit of eBay, announced on Thursday that it has signed an exclusive five-year deal to become the official secondary ticket marketplace for Major League Baseball.

Cupertino, Calif. - Apple announced on Friday that it has signed a deal with Major League Baseball to sell video highlights for the 2007 season on the iTunes Store. Offerings will include "MLB.com Daily Rewind," a 25-minute daily highlight show, and two weekly "Games of the Week," featuring full versions of the best games from the National and American Leagues. Each highlight video will sell for $1.99 each; a month of Daily Rewind shows can also be purchased for $7.99, and a Season Pass for Games of the Week will cost $19.99.