Yahoo! Inc., the subject of all kinds of
M&A hoopla, is
outsourcing its Internet radio business to CBS Radio, which is building something of a
streaming behemoth second only to YouTube Inc. Early next year, CBS Radio will power Yahoo! Music's Launchcast Radio, combining 300 stations with CBS assuming sales responsibility. Also, Yahoo! News and Sports will incorporate dedicated CBS Radio players into their sites, featuring stations such as including sports station WFAN in New York.
The deal also
alleviates a technical pain for Yahoo!. Wired News said in addition to the primary headache of reconciling royalties with ad revenue, Yahoo! no longer has to worry about fixing Launch so that it works with operating systems besides Windows and browsers aside from Internet Explorer.
David Goodman, president of digital media and integrated marketing at CBS Radio, said in a statement, "This announcement along with our relationship with Last.fm, and other distribution partnerships, reinforces our company's position as the No. 1 Internet radio company in the world."
CBS created a similar
deal with AOL Radio in March, with the CBS sales team handling ads on both networks. Crain's noted both deals are part of the CBS Corp. division's long-range plans for growth as terrestrial radio continues to lose advertising dollars to the Web. -
Baz HiralalSee the joint press release
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