Broadcaster on Net fights to survive

PORTLAND – The financial struggle for BroadcastAmerica.com has worsened to the point executives informed the Internet broadcaster’s remaining workers that there was not enough money to pay them.

The announcement Friday came after a federal bankruptcy judge gave a pair of key vendors permission to shut off service to the company.

The Portland company was legally bound to tell the employees they would no longer be paid, but it intends to continue providing services using managers and employees who agreed to work without pay, said Alex Lauchlan, chief executive officer of BroadcastAmerica.

The company is one of Maine’s most visible dot-com companies. It was formed in 1998 and “airs” 750 radio stations and 70 television stations over the Internet.

The company had more than 80 employees just a few weeks ago. But a recent layoff cut that number nearly in half, and many of those who survived were reduced to part-time status, he said.

On Friday, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge James B. Haines approved motions by Worldcom, which provides the Internet link, and another key vendor, RealNetworks, to halt service.

RealNetworks provides the technology that allows BroadcastAmerica to “stream” radio broadcasts over the Web. BroadcastAmerica has run up a bill of $243,000 since seeking bankruptcy protection.

Roger Clement, the lawyer who represented BroadcastAmerica before the judge, said his client believed a temporary shutoff in service would be beneficial because it would mean the company would stop accumulating debt to RealNetworks and Worldcom.

Even as employees were told the bad news, the company’s lawyers were trying to negotiate a deal with a prospective financial partner that could allow the company to pay its bills and dodge a foreclosure attempt.

“We’re still working on that deal,” Clement said. “It has not come into existence yet, but we think we’re close. We worked late into the night last [Thursday] night on it.”