As we went to press, privately held Starguide Digital Networks was poised to announce a new technology called CoolCast that it says will solve internet bandwidth problems for multimedia content. It has patents for the technology, which is capable of delivering several thousand high quality video channels simultaneously to PC users without clogging the internet, according to company president and co-founder, Paul Donahue. The technology is being tested by Sony, NBC and NFL in the US and is due to be officially announced in the next couple of weeks. The Reno, Nevada based company was this week granted a patent called the ‘Donahue patent’ which encompasses 37 different aspects that describe methods for electronically distributing digital audio and video programs to PCs over phone lines, cable systems, the internet and satellite systems without degrading the quality. It was developed in 1991 by Donahue himself and is now used by Musicam Express, jointly owned by Starguide and CBS broadcasting, to distribute content electronically to 1900 affiliated radio stations across the US. Sony, ABC, CBS, NBC and Bloomberg Financial currently distribute their programs and music to affiliate stations using the high speed Musiciam Network. Previously these companies would have had to mail out the programs to stations individually on CD-ROMs and VCR tapes. Starguide is currently licensing out the technology.
