Geo Interactive Media Group Ltd, the Israeli internet application software company, has signed deals with 70 radio stations for the launch this week of its WebRadio.com site which is in direct competition with Broadcast.com, recently acquired by Yahoo! Inc for $7.7bn. Quite apart from the potential value of the site, Geo sees the operation as an opportunity to demonstrate its Emblaze technology that requires no plug-in to hear the streamed content.
Geo quoted research by Arbitron-Edison Media Research Internet study that 13% of people in the US currently listen to radio over the internet and this figure will rise to 25% by 2000. GTE Internetworking unit is to be the main provider of internet bandwidth and Sandpiper Networks offers a web caching service with web servers on every internet backbone.
