ICAST A SHADOW?

In an effort to boost its bottom line, Internet media company CMGI may be looking to sell off its iCast music division, according to various media sources.

And Inside.com is reporting that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. might be interested in the online music site. But spokesman Gary Ginsberg said there was no truth to the News Corp.-iCast rumors, despite CMGI board member John Evans being a former exec for News Corp.

According to Inside, there is a second potential buyer, said to be a major music industry player, if the News Corp. deal falls through.

CMGI is in the process of trimming away its less profitable companies, responding to its stock slide from $38 in mid-September to $15 a month later. CMGI's peak stock price was $302 in April 1999. If no buyer for iCast is found, CMGI may simply dismantle the company.

Although CMGI is considered one of the strongest media companies, iCast has had trouble distinguishing itself in the over-populated online music world. "There has been a lot of activity in video and audio on the Web," said digital media analyst Phil Leigh. "And iCast has had a hard time breaking out of the pack."

Debuting as an online radio site, iCast announced plans to scale back on marketing and get record labels to pony up for the music the site broadcasts. In an internal e-mail obtained by Wired.com, iCast Senior VP, Marketing and Corporate Strategy Fred Siegel wrote: "Before, we paid for content. This is because we had to. Now that we are no longer in that position, we will not pay for music content any more. We want to be paid to carry it."

In addition to scaling back on the marketing budget, CMGI has pulled its news feed and ended its "Land Your Band" promotion—both integral parts of iCast.

This news comes less than three months after restructuring iCast—which included laying off 30 and hiring MP3.com's Joe Fleischer and Napster's Liz Brooks.