MCI, Start-Up Unveil Internet Broadcasting

MCI Communications Corp. and Seattle-based start-up Progressive Networks Inc. unveiled a service that for the first time lets companies broadcast live audio and video to large audiences over the Internet. The service, called RealNetwork, uses Progressive’s technology to send real-time sound and film over MCI’s portion of the global computer network. It will be sold to broadcasters and other companies looking to show events to audiences using PCs. RealNetwork can broadcast to as many as 50,000 computer users at a time, letting companies show an annual meeting to employees worldwide, for example. The companies plan to increase that number, as they aim to push the PC into the realm of the television. While other Internet-based companies broadcast sound and pictures, Washington-based MCI is using its vast phone network to let customers do so on a large scale. Microsoft Corp. of Redmond, Wash., which owns a 10% nonvoting stake in privately held Progressive, unveiled its own initiatives in streaming, or sending audio and video over the Internet. Microsoft bought Progressive rival Vxtreme Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., for undisclosed terms. MCI shares fell 50 cents to close at $33.19; Microsft shares rose $1.75 to $143.31. Both trade on Nasdaq.