Williams Communications received clearance from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware to purchase the assets of
streaming media player iBeam Broadcasting Corp.
Under the terms of the deal, which is expected to close by next week, Williams, based in Tulsa, Okla., will pay $25 million in cash to acquire iBeam's assets; including facility and equipment leases and all customer contracts and intellectual property.
The company said that $6 million dollars of the purchase amount will be used to repay a loan extended by Williams Communications to iBeam on Oct. 11
to ensure uninterrupted operations during iBeam's bankruptcy proceedings.
iBeam's streaming and webcasting business will be folded into Williams Communications' Vyvx Broadband Media unit, that provides integrated transmission and broadband media services.
The company said it will also
offer full-time positions to more than 200 iBEAM employees.
Adding the iBeam's assets will allow Vyvx to enhance its service offerings, that include digital media management, content gathering and distribution, managed web hosting and streaming.
The deal will also bring Vyvx more than 100 million IP streams a month that iBeam said it was averaging before they filed for bankruptcy protection.
- Michael Grotticelli
