Wireless Webcaster iBlast locks $10.2 mil

Cyberbiz Brief

By MARC GRASER

iBlast, which hopes to piggyback on the digital transmissions of local television stations to deliver Internet content through a wireless network, has secured a $10.2 million round of funding from heavyweights including Gannett, Cox Broadcasting, the Washington Post Co., Media General, Emmis Communications and Smith Broadcasting Group.

The financing comes after a three-month field trial of iBlast's technology in cities across the country. Los Angeles-based iBlast hopes to use digital signals to distribute games, videos and music to subscribers' PCs, TVs, game consoles, MP3 jukeboxes and personal video recorders.

IBlast said it will use the funds for working capital, new developments and improvements to its datacasting service as well as continued construction of its growing distribution network. The investment is a coup for iBlast, considering that rivals, including Geocast Network Systems, have so far failed to entice content owners or subscribers to adopt the new distribution platform.

With exclusive agreements with 21 major broadcast partners, the iBlast network currently encompasses 251 stations that reach 93% of U.S. television households.