retirementThere's a buzz building in California over a state move to create a retirement savings planfor private employees with no workplace 401k. It might seem that everyone has plenty of access to a retirement savings plan, but at least a third of U.S. households get to retirement with just Social Security to back them up,.

The "pioneering" part of such a retirement savings planwould be the opt-out clause. Under the California plan, which has to get past some federal rules and IRS hurdles, eligible workers would be automatically registered with the plan at a deduction rate of 3% of pay. They would have to choose to quit the plan, although of course they could instead choose to increase the takeout.

The enforced deductions requirement of a good retirement savings planis backed by research from Harvard and the University of Copenhagen. According to the research, giving people a tax break encourages them to save, but not much. Using data from Denmark, which is similar to the U.S. system but offers more detail, academics found that tax subsidies worth $1 raised the national savings rate by a penny.

That's not much bang for a buck. Meanwhile, previous research found that an automatic retirement savings plan, such as the proposed California "opt-out" model, is very effective at raising savings rates.

The reason, the , is that only about 15% of people in the system are active savers, that is, people who think about retirement and how much money it will take to achieve that goal. The remainder, a whopping 85%, are totally passive savers. They will save if obligated but make no concrete plan regarding their life after work.

All of this would be quite the revelation, except that private pensions have a long and quite well-documented history, starting back in 1980 in Chile. Under reforms instituted by the military regime of the time, anyone with a formal job in the South American country is required to pay 10% beyond a minimum monthly income level. There is an income tax break, too, on retirement savings plancontributions, which can be up to 20%.

The Chilean system was reformed in 2008 to create a bigger safety net for the poor, essentially granting public pensions to those who did not earn enough to participate in the private system. Currently, 13 countries have either private or quasi-mandatory pension systems,.

All pension plans fall into two categories, defined benefit or defined contribution (DC). A defined benefit plan puts the burden on future taxpayers to meet a minimum payout, which is essentially how Social Security works in the United States. A defined contribution retirement savings plan, the basis for private pension systems such as a 401k, means it's up to savers to put enough away and toover decades.

As the OECD notes, "the starting point for a successful DC plan is a sufficiently high contribution rate." Put another way, depending on the market to deliver miracles is a mistake, but a similarly large (and common) mistake is believing that setting aside pennies in a retirement savings planwill add up to big dollars down the line.

The agency concludes:

In DC pension systems, one clear goal for policymakers should be to improve the design of default investment strategies so that investment risk is reduced as the worker approaches retirement. Such lifecycle investment strategies may need to be carefully regulated to ensure that workers are offered sufficient diversification and protection from market shocks in old age.

Amen and hallelujah, we say. Whatever the outcome in California, two points about a proper retirement savings planby now should be impressively clear to everyone: You need to save more, sooner, and you absolutely must have ato protect and grow that nest egg over time.

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LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Tom Hanks is reteaming with his "Cloud Atlas" director Tom Tykwer on a feature adaptation of Dave Eggers' novel "A Hologram For the King," TheWrap has learned.

Tykwer adapted the book and will direct the indie movie, for which CAA is in the process of securing financing. "A Hologram For the King" was a finalist for the National Book Award when it was published by McSweeney's last year.

Hanks will play a struggling businessman who heads to Saudi Arabia in a last-ditch attempt to stave off foreclosure and do something memorable with his life.

Hanks and his Playtone partner Gary Goetzman will produce with Stefan Arndt, Uwe Schott and Tykwer of X Filme Creative Pool.

Hanks, who can currently be seen on Broadway in Nora Ephron's play "Funny Guy," will soon be seen in Sony's "Captain Phillips" and Disney's "Saving Mr. Banks," in which he plays Walt Disney. He's represented by CAA.

The news was first reported by Deadline.

MIAMI (Reuters) - Shane Battier, benched earlier in the playoffs, delivered a masterclass in three-point shooting for the Miami Heat, playing a vital role in their 95-88 win in the NBA Finals on Thursday.

Battier made a postseason, career-high six three-point field goals as he scored 18 - his highest points total in a playoff game in four years.

"Reports of my demise were premature," said a grinning Battier, who did not feature at all in the crunch Game Seven of the Eastern Conference final against the Indiana Pacers.

Averaging just four points per game in this year's playoffs, Battier was certainly not expected to have 28 minutes on court in Game Seven - more than he played in the first four games of the Finals.

"The basketball gods - I believe in basketball gods and I felt they owed me big-time. I had a bunch of shots in San Antonio that went in and out," he said.

"I know I am a better shooter than my numbers put up. A lot goes into it - I thought I had some open looks in the last two games and when I have open looks, I expect to make them - and I did," he said.

Battier's performance mirrored that of Mike Millers in last season's title-clinching game when he scored seven three-pointers to sink the Oklahoma City Thunder.

VEINS

The display left Heat coach Erik Spoelstra praising the perfect attitude Battier took to being left out of the action.

"He was smart enough to know that sometimes it is about match-ups and in a series things change. But he is so important to what we do that eventually he would get his chance again - when he did, he made the most of it.

"The guy has won at every single level - high school, college, pro and that's not a coincidence. He has something running through those veins that separates him, makes him a little bit different as a champion."

It was a Battier three, early in the third quarter that gave Miami a four-point cushion, setting the tone for the second half and igniting the crowd and another of his trademark long-range baskets that made it 88-82.

Dwyane Wade, who claimed his third NBA championship with Miami, having been part of the 2006 title-winning team, said Battier's display epitomized the way in which the Heat's supporting cast had made a key contribution.

"In Game Six it was Ray Allen with the big shot and obviously last year Mike Miller had an unbelievable performance," he said.

"Shane hadn't hit a shot since I don't know when but tonight he was unconscious. He's just a big-time player. You want that for Shane so bad.

"He is going to go down as one of my favorite team-mates of all time just by being the guy that he is.

"And we needed it. We needed every inch of what everybody gave".

(Editing by Ian Ransom)

Teacher Orvar Arnarson, 41, and student Andrimar Pordarson, 25, jumped separately, not in tandem, on Saturday after successfully completing two jumps earlier that day with 20 other people. The two Icelandic skydivers did not return from their third jump, tipping off an hours-long air and ground search around the Zephyrhills facility, about 30 miles northeast of Tampa. The bodies were discovered later that evening in the woods.

Investigators will review the helmet cam footage to try to glean more about what happened, said Pasco County sheriff's spokeswoman Melanie Snow.

The cause of death was blunt force trauma, the medical examiner's office said. Autopsy results were pending, but a preliminary investigation determined that the manner of death was accidental.

The men didn't deploy their main parachutes, which could mean that they lost altitude awareness and didn't know where they were during the jump, Skydive City co-owner T.K. Hayes told The Associated Press on Sunday. Both victims had backup automatic activation devices, but they didn't have time to fully inflate.

Out of just over 3 million jumps, 19 skydivers died last year across the U.S., according to the United States Parachute Association. Experts said it is "very rare" for two jumpers to die in the same accident.

"It happens from time to time if two skydivers collide while flying their parachutes if they don't see each other," said Nancy Koreen, Director of Sport Promotion for association.

"In that situation, their canopies can tangle, causing an accident. I don't yet know the details of this particular accident, but from what I understand, this was a different case," she said, adding that "it's extremely rare for this type of double fatality to occur."

The victims were part of a skydiving group from Iceland who travel to Florida annually.

At L.L. Bean, top executives are abandoning their desks to work in the shipping department and to answer customers' phone calls as part of an annual all-hands-on-deck approach to ensure last-minute purchases arrive at their destinations before Christmas.

This season, the deadline for orders with guaranteed Christmas delivery is the latest ever, with L.L. Bean offering free shipping as late as noon Friday.

"Consumers are going to buy when they want to buy. There's no changing that, so we have to be ready," McCormick, his sleeves rolled up, said during a break inside the busy 1-million-square-foot distribution center where nearly 200,000 orders are shipped daily in late December.

There's never been a better time to be a procrastinator because retailers continue to offer later guaranteed delivery, and in some cases retailers are offering same-day delivery in select cities, said Al Sambar, a logistics and retail strategist at the consulting firm Kurt Salmon.

Thanks to improved shipping logistics, many online and catalog retailers established Christmas delivery deadlines on Thursday and Friday, with some like Amazon extending the deadline for one-day shipping until Saturday.

And shoppers can expect the trend to continue.

Retailers are increasingly focusing on speed. Following Amazon's lead, other retailers are experimenting with regional warehouses to get the product closer to potential customers, said Raj Kumar, a retail partner at A.T. Kearney, a global management consulting firm.

Macy's, Toys R Us and Wal-Mart are testing pilot programs in which stores themselves are utilized as shipping hubs as retailers push for next-day and same-day delivery, he said.

Unlike Amazon, L.L. Bean's worldwide shipping hub is centralized, about a mile from the corporate headquarters, and features seemingly endless aisles of flannel shirts, L.L. Bean boots, camping supplies, and other items, along with a labyrinth of conveyors and chutes that transport them, and a fleet of trucks.

The company hired 4,700 seasonal workers to help with the holiday rush, doubling the workforce, and 500 administrative employees are expected to get into the act during crunch times.

Earlier this week, McCormick was boxing goods in the shipping department with the company's financial controller, Kierston Van Soest. Nearby were the company's chief financial officer and other executives. In Bean parlance, they're dubbed "day hikers," since they're on a temporary daily assignment.

Pulling items from a shopping cart, McCormick and Van Soest scanned the products with a bar code reader, printed shipping labels and order forms, and then boxed up the items, tossing in catalogs for good measure. On this day, popular items included headlamps, Wicked Good slippers and shirts.

In the past, McCormick worked on a product-sorting conveyor line, in the retail store stockroom, and in a recycling area, breaking down empty cardboard boxes. The worst job of all, he said, was one stint working in the part of the call center that deals with angry and frustrated customers, attempting to set things right.

"It's hard because you've disappointed people and you don't want to disappoint anybody, especially at this time of the year," McCormick said. "I wouldn't want their job."

The company does its best to keep customers happy. On that day, hundreds of shipments were being upgraded free of charge to UPS air to beat the first major winter storm in the Midwest.

McCormick said it's nice to get out among the workers but there's a practical purpose for having everyone pitch in, including the men and women at the upper echelon of the company.

On this day, the distribution center was behind schedule because snow had kept many workers home the day before. Administrators were called in to help get back on schedule.

Like most retailers, L.L. Bean makes half of its annual sales in the last two months of the year. And retailers are more than happy to oblige late shoppers, especially since holiday sales haven't been especially strong going into the final shopping weekend before Christmas, according to Michael McNamara, vice president for research and analysis at MasterCard Advisors' SpendingPulse.

Nationwide, the final retail push on Friday and Saturday is expected to yield $34 billion in total sales, accounting for roughly 8 percent of the $400 billion in December sales, McNamara said.

After Christmas, and the ensuing returns, the entire planning process starts anew.

"It's interesting being a retailer. You plan all year for four weeks. This is where we make most our sales and most of our money. After Christmas, you feel like you just ran a marathon and now you get back on the treadmill and you've got to do it again," McCormick said.

___

Follow David Sharp on Twitter at http://twitter.com/David_Sharp_AP

The 49ers dominated early in rainy New England, racing to a 31-3 advantage in the third quarter but Tom Brady and his top-ranked Patriots offense caught fire with 28 unanswered points to tie the game with a little under seven minutes remaining.

San Francisco's second-year quarterback Colin Kaepernick responded seconds later with a 38-yard touchdown pass to Michael Crabtree, his fourth TD throw of the game, to put the 49ers (10-3-1) back in front for good.

The visitors' vaunted defense were then finally able to stop the marauding Patriots and stalled Brady on two straight drives before David Akers added a San Francisco field goal for a 41-31 lead.

New England (10-4) added a field goal in the final minute but their onside kick attempt was unsuccessful as their seven-game winning streak came to a screeching halt.

Brady finished with 443 yards passing but he coughed up two interceptions and was sacked three times as the Patriots paid the price for giving up four turnovers.

Kaepernick had 216 passing yards to improve to 4-1 since taking over as starter from Alex Smith. San Francisco also compiled 181 rushing yards and kept their lead at the top of the NFC West.

(Writing by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles; Editing by John O'Brien)

Dozens of UBS staff manipulated the Libor rate, which is used to price trillions of dollars worth of loans, across three continents in collusion with brokers and traders at other banks, according to an international investigation.

The controversy is expected to ensnare other big lenders and spark civil lawsuits as well as possible criminal proceedings against individuals involved. The penalty UBS agreed to with U.S., UK and Swiss authorities far exceeds the $450 million levied on Britain's Barclays in June, also for rigging Libor, and is the second largest ever imposed on a bank.

"We deeply regret this inappropriate and unethical behavior. No amount of profit is more important than the reputation of this firm," said UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti.

The Libor benchmarks are used for trillions of dollars worth of loans around the world, ranging from home loans to credit cards to complex derivatives.

Tiny shifts in the rate, compiled from daily polls of bankers, could benefit banks by millions of dollars. But every dollar a bank benefited meant an equal loss by a bank, hedge fund or other investor on the other side of the trade - raising the threat of a raft of civil lawsuits.

"The big unknown factor is the civil litigation that could follow on as a result of this," said Paras Anand, European equities head at Fidelity Worldwide Investment, one of UBS's biggest investors. "The issue for shareholders is the challenge of pricing that risk in."

UBS's unit in Japan pleaded guilty to one count of fraud relating to manipulation of benchmark rates, including the yen Libor. The probe highlighted the important role played by one UBS banker, identified as Trader A, who "embarked on a coordinated campaign" to influence the yen Libor rate.

Britain's Financial Services Authority (FSA) said UBS staff made "corrupt" payments to reward brokers for helping to manipulate rates, expanding the scandal to include bribery.

Separately on Wednesday, an Italian court found UBS guilty of aggravated fraud for misselling derivatives to the city of Milan. Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and Depfa Bank were also found guilty.

The UBS fine comes a week after Britain's HSBC agreed to pay a record $1.92 billion to settle a probe in the United States into laundering money for drug cartels.

UBS shares were flat at 10:40 a.m. ET after earlier hitting a 17-month high of 15.5 francs ($16.97).

"You can see from the stock movement that the fine is already baked in," said Markus Jordi, principal at Zurich-based investment manager Cosmos Capital.

REPUTATIONAL HIT

The Libor settlement caps a torrid 18 months for UBS during which it lost $2.3 billion in a rogue trading scandal, underwent a management upheaval and made thousands of job cuts.

"We have to acknowledge that the behavior of certain of our employees who were disciplined during this investigation ... is and was unacceptable," Ermotti told reporters, adding that around 40 people had left UBS or had been asked to leave.

The reputational impact of the controversy may only emerge next year.

"The only thing shareholders can do is keep a very close eye on the money flows on the wealth management side," said Neil Wilkinson, portfolio manager at Royal London Asset Management.

"We may not see until the first quarter of next year whether they have lost any clients as a result of this."

The bank will pay $1.2 billion to the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), 160 million pounds to the UK's FSA and 59 million Swiss francs from its estimated profit to Swiss regulator Finma.

The UK penalty is the largest in the history of the FSA and more than double the 59 million pounds paid by Barclays.

UBS said the fines would widen its fourth quarter net loss but it would not need to raise new capital.

CAPTAIN 'CAOS' AND SUPERMAN

Britain's FSA said attempts to manipulate Libor and Euribor, its European equivalent, were so widespread that every submission UBS made over a six-year period from 2005 to 2010 was suspect.

At least 45 people at UBS were involved in the rigging, which was discussed in internal chat forums and group emails but never detected by compliance staff, despite five audits.

The FSA said the manipulation was considered to be "normal business practice" by a wide pool of people within UBS.

In addition to traders trying to move the Libor rate up or down to make money for themselves, senior managers at the Swiss bank directed dealers to keep Libor submissions low during the financial crisis to make the bank look stronger.

The extent of the wrongdoing was highlighted in a series of emails released by the FSA. The exchanges show how traders and brokers conspired to rig the rate while adopting nicknames such as "Captain Caos (sic) and calling each other "superman", "hero" or "the three muscateers (sic)".

In one email, Trader A wrote to broker A urging him to keep the six-month yen Libor rate unchanged on the day. "I need you to keep it as low as possible ... if you do that .... I'll pay you, you know, 50,000 dollars, 100,000 dollars... whatever you want... I'm a man of my word," Trader A wrote.

Traders paid brokers as much as 15,000 pounds a quarter for their help in rigging the rates.

It is the first time that brokers have been accused of taking bribes to aid manipulation. ICAP, the world's largest inter-dealer broker, and rival RP Martin have suspended employees in connection with the probe.

Last week, British police arrested three men, including former UBS and Citigroup trader Thomas Hayes, in connection with the Libor probe, the first such arrests. The two others were Terry Farr and James Gilmour, who both worked at interdealer broker RP Martin.

Until the rate-rigging scandal broke, Libor had been ignored by regulators and left to the banks to police. From next year, Britain's FSA will have oversight of it as part of a major overhaul.

The steep fine for UBS is despite the bank, since 2011, cooperating with law-enforcement agencies in their probes. The bank said it received conditional immunity from some regulators.

A similar admission by Barclays in June touched off a political firestorm that forced its chairman and chief executive to quit.

(Additional reporting by the Zurich bureau and London bureau; Writing by Carmel Crimmins and Alex Smith. Editing by Anna Willard and Janet McBride)

It was another busy day at baseball's winter meetings, where it's easy to tell which teams are making major changes (the Red Sox), which ones want to remain intact (the champion Giants) and which ones are saving their cash (the Marlins, of course) and the Yankees (come again?).

Boston kept spending freely, though, this time revving up the lineup Tuesday with a $39 million contract for Victorino. Over in the National League, the well-armed Washington Nationals neared a $13 million deal with pitcher Dan Haren.

"It seems like this is a market flush with money," said Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, whose big-budget club has taken a conservative approach so far.

In the first two trades of the week, Colorado got effective reliever Wilton Lopez and a player to be named from Houston for young right-handers Alex White and Alex Gillingham, and Miami sent recently acquired shortstop Yunel Escobar to Tampa Bay.

Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey of the New York Mets is still the prime trade target, with Boston in the mix for him, too.

Josh Hamilton remains the top free agent amid speculation the slugger will re-sign with Texas. Ace pitcher Zack Greinke also is available, with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Rangers very interested.

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said he's been involved in the pursuit of one free agent. He didn't disclose who it was, but seemed to be enjoying this week's developments.

"It's like a smorgasbord of baseball. It's been good," Mattingly said.

Boston has been the most active team this offseason, by far. A day after giving All-Star bat Mike Napoli a $39 million, three-year deal, the Red Sox lured Victorino with the exact same contract terms.

"Can't wait to get to Boston!" Victorino tweeted during a day of snorkeling in Hawaii.

The Red Sox are coming off their worst season since 1965 and trying to reshape the roster. The 32-year-old Victorino is a two-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glove winner who stole a career-high 39 bases for Philadelphia and the Dodgers last season.

Recently, the Red Sox added Jonny Gomes and David Ross.

"I think we're making the progress that we've hoped, at least in the early going, with adding those types of players," new manager John Farrell said before the Victorino deal.

Victorino projects to play right field at Fenway Park or his arrival could lead to a trade of center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury, coming off a disappointing and injury-interrupted season.

The Nationals and Haren are close to completing a one-year deal for $13 million, a person familiar with the talks told The Associated Press. The person spoke under condition of anonymity because no deal was announced.

Washington had the best record in the majors last season. The NL East champions already have a formidable rotation led by Gio Gonzalez and Stephen Strasburg, and want to throw in Haren, an All-Star from 2007-09.

"I've got some young guys that act like veterans, and they pitched like veterans last year for me, and a veteran like Dan Haren is just going to make things even better," Nationals manager Davey Johnson said.

Haren was 12-13 with a 4.33 ERA in 30 starts for the Los Angeles Angels. They nearly traded the 32-year-old righty to the Chicago Cubs for reliever Carlos Marmol after the season, but the deal fell apart. Then the Angels declined their $15.5 million option and paid a $3.5 million buyout.

"World Series or bust, that's probably the slogan this year. But I'm comfortable with that," Johnson said.

The price tag on Hamilton figures to be high. The 2010 AL MVP came to Nashville this week, presumably to talk to potential new teams, though Texas could be his landing spot.

"I expect we will get together relatively soon," Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said. "I keep reading that we've got a deal done. I keep asking the guys in the room who snuck out and did it?"

"We left it as he was going to test the market and once he had an idea of what was out there, then we would talk," he said. "We haven't had that conversation yet."

The Mets and All-Star third baseman David Wright finalized a $138 million, eight-year contract, the largest deal in team history. The sides reached agreement last week, subject to a physical, and Wright planned to talk about it Wednesday at the meetings.

On Sunday, Dickey was at the Opryland Hotel to see a Mets trainer. The knuckleballer will make $5.25 million next year and would like an extension. Mets general manager Sandy Alderson briefly met this week with Dickey's agent, Bo McKinnis.

A trade remains possible.

"Something could happen on either front that would bring this to a conclusion, presumably," Alderson said. "I don't expect that's going to happen today. It may not happen tomorrow. It may not happen in Nashville."

The World Series champion Giants kept Scutaro, the NLCS MVP, by giving the free-agent second baseman a $20 million, three-year contract one day after retaining center fielder Angel Pagan with a $40 million, four-year deal. Arizona reached a one-year agreement with veteran utility man Eric Hinske.

Escobar's stay in Miami barely lasted two weeks. The payroll-cutting Marlins sent him and his $5 million salary across the state for minor league infielder Derek Dietrich.

Escobar was acquired on Nov. 19 in a 12-player trade that sent Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle and Josh Johnson to Toronto. Escobar batted .253 last season with nine homers and 51 RBIs.

Colorado bolstered its bullpen with Lopez. The 29-year-old righty was 6-3 with 10 saves and a 2.17 ERA in 64 games for the Astros. He struck out 54 and walked only eight in 66 1-3 innings.

The 24-year-old White split last season with the Rockies and Triple-A Colorado Springs. He was 2-9 with a 5.51 ERA in 23 games for the Rockies, including 20 starts.

The 23-year-old Gillingham was 6-8 with a 3.66 ERA at Class-A Asheville in his first full pro season.

___

AP Sports Writer Mike Fitzpatrick in New York contributed to this report.

U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin in Manhattan said the subscribers could pursue claims that the packaging has reduced competition, raised prices, and kept them from watching their favorite teams located outside their home markets.

"Plaintiffs in this case - the consumers - have plausibly alleged that they are the direct victims of this harm," she wrote.

The defendants include Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, several teams in both sports, cable TV company Comcast Corp, satellite TV provider DirecTV, Madison Square Garden Co and some regional sports networks.

DirecTV declined to comment, saying it had not reviewed the decision. Comcast and the NHL had no immediate comment. Other defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Ned Diver, a lawyer for the subscribers, said in a phone interview: "We're very pleased with the decision. It's a total victory on the substance of the plaintiffs' claims."

Media companies, leagues and teams can often justify higher costs to watch their products by citing the higher costs of doing business, and that individual teams have rabid followings among viewers willing to pay more to watch events live.

"BLACKOUT" AGREEMENTS

The case arose from what the subscribers said were anticompetitive "blackout" agreements between service providers such as Comcast and DirecTV, sports networks and the leagues.

These subscribers contended that if they wanted to watch games from outside their home markets, they were required to buy packages that included all out-of-market games, even if they were interested only in one or a few nonlocal teams.

For example, a New York Yankees fan living in Colorado could not pay simply for access to that team's games, but had to buy a product such as the MLB Extra Innings television package.

The subscribers sought damages and a halt to arrangements that they said resulted in "reduced output, diminished product quality, diminished choice and suppressed price competition."

Other packages at issue are NHL Center Ice for television, and MLB.tv and NHL GameCenter LIVE for the Internet.

The defendants argued that the subscribers' alleged injuries were only indirectly related to the alleged wrongful conduct, and that Major League Baseball and NHL games did not qualify as "distinct products" subject to antitrust scrutiny.

Comcast, DirecTV and the sports networks also contended that their conduct was "presumptively legal."

PRESSURE TO SETTLE

Scheindlin nonetheless let much of the case go forward.

"Making all games available as part of a package, while it may increase output overall, does not, as a matter of law, eliminate the harm to competition wrought by preventing the individual teams from competing to sell their games outside their home territories in the first place," she wrote.

The judge did dismiss claims that Comcast, DirecTV and the sports networks conspired to monopolize markets, while allowing similar claims against Major League Baseball and the NHL to proceed. She also dismissed some individual plaintiffs from the case, saying they lacked standing to sue.

"There will be pressure on the defendants to settle before this gets to trial," which could cost "real money," said Geoffrey Rapp, a University of Toledo law professor in Ohio.

"The defendants are in some ways similar to record companies that had to adapt as a la carte options became available online, where people could buy one song rather than a whole album," he said. "Five or 10 years from now, these package-deal arrangements may no longer exist."

Among the dozens of defendants were the Yankees and its YES network; the Chicago White Sox baseball and Chicago Blackhawks hockey teams; the New York Rangers hockey team; and various Comcast SportsNet and Root Sports networks.

Last month, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp said it would buy a 49 percent stake in the YES network.

Baseball itself has had an antitrust exemption since 1922, but has long faced periodic calls from Congress and elsewhere that it be repealed.

The cases are Laumann et al v. National Hockey League et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 12-01817; and Garber et al v. Office of the Commissioner of Baseball et al in the same court, No. 12-03074.

(Editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Tim Dobbyn, Matthew Lewis, Bernard Orr and Richard Chang)