From BusinessNewswire: "Five new webcast networks have joined the top 25 in Arbitron's December Webcast Network Ratings, with NetRadio and Live365 topping the chart with the most listeners.

"Webcast networks are defined as radio station owners that stream their content online or companies that aggregate online audio programming.

"The newcomers to the top 25 for aggregate tuning hours (ATH) - the total sum of hours that listeners tune to a given station - in the December Webcast Network Ratings were: Cablemusic Networks, Inc., Beethoven.com, Entercom, MEDIAmazing and Clear Channel Communications, Inc...

"NetRadio maintained its number one spot with more than 2.1 million ATH. Live365 has climbed to the number two spot with more than 1.7 million ATH. The top 10 was rounded out by GlobalMedia in third, ABC Radio Networks in fourth, BroadcastAMERICA in fifth, Cablemusic Networks in sixth (590,200 ATH), Beethoven.com in seventh ( 565,700 ATH), Enigma Digital in eight, DiscJockey.com in ninth and Corus Entertainment in the tenth slot."

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BY RALPH SLEDGE
Today's site tends to be, if nothing else, an adventure in exploration. Often, the sites we feature are elegant, nicely laid out, easy to use, and feature content we like. Supersphere.com... well, 'elegant' isn't quite the word I would use, the layout isn't bad but it's often confusing, and the content...

A word of warning to anyone who wants to venture into the site: most of the content here comes from the far, far left. The radio section is just one part of the site: there is writing and video available as well, and all of it that I found -- The music, the articles, the movie reviews -- are left-edge and often inflammatory.

I'm not saying this to turn anyone off of the site, but rather to give an idea of where it's coming from. In a way, this site is the EMusic of on-line streaming media without the profit motive. What you'll find on the site is highly eclectic, very scattered, and often seemingly random, but it all generally comes from an independent, liberal mindset.

The site's station is a bit of an adventure or a chore in and of itself, to start with. The radio section is called "Radiomatica" and you might not exactly know what you're getting when you load the page. The site seems to play up the individual shows rather than it's single, live, consistent stream. Indeed, it seems like most of the shows that have ever been on the stream are archived and readily available in Real Audio.

What constitutes a 'show' can change pretty readily. The "new encodes" section, at the moment, features a lot of spoken-word and commentary from the likes of Jello Biafra and Noam Chomsky. This approach is what makes the live stream often seem strange: the kind of music you're listening to can change very quickly.

However, searching through the various archives will show you a pretty healthy amount of music more visibly grouped. Sections like "Amp Lux," "Bit Rot" and "Jet Set" will lead you to sections of shows featuring Acoustic, Electronic, and Jazz/International music, respectively.

This approach is a little different than anything else I've seen. You're basically able to control what you hear not by channel, but by actual archived show. Granted, this means that you aren't going to get a channel of randomized music each time you visit the site, but there are generally enough shows to keep you busy for a while. And chances are, if you like what you hear on any of the shows, you'll like at least some of the live stream.

There's plenty of other stuff on the site to check out while you're listening to the radio, as well. There are editorials, movie reviews abound. The site carries independent movies and links to independent movies. And soon enough you'll notice something surprising: the site has archived literally thousands of concerts from the Chicago area. Full-length RealVideos of bands like Tortoise, Fugazi, and the BellRays are available in the "Clubtronics" section. This is a pretty impressive endeavor, whether you want to watch concerts on RealVideo or not.

While the site is defiantly eclectic, I don't want to give the impression that it's very poorly organized: it's messy considering what they've got, but it's an interesting mess. You'll probably have to spend some time with it in order to find something that's worthwhile, but if you do, it might just be time well spent.

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CMGI is considering selling off Internet broadcasting unit Activate and marketing/advertising solutions division AdForce.

According to a piece in DotComScoop (here), the "strategic options" would come as CMGI deals with a $2.6 billion loss for the fiscal quarter ending January 31.

The story quotes an anonymous AdForce insider as "The customers didn't come as hoped, and some of our fellow portfolio companies and customers sort of died out on us."

According to InternetNews.com, Activate Founder and CEO Jeff Schrock told seattle.internet.com that Activate is seeking additional investors, and that CMGI, despite the losses, is committed to supporting the company until additional financial partners can be found.

It was only last month that Activate opened its new 20,000 square foot digital media center. Called Activate Grand Central, it's a $20 million state-of-the-art facility already being used for event Webcasting and business communications for the likes of Microsoft, Nortel, and MTVi.

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May 3-4, 2001	Streaming Media Asia 2001: Hong Kong