AOL, Microsoft, CBS, NBC Buy Into Encoding.com

Digital media company Encoding.com, which helps technology companies, music companies and e-commerce sites optimize their digital audio and video content, announced today that it has raised $48 million in a round of funding led by Wasserstein Adelson Ventures. Other investors include America Online, Microsoft, CBS, Intel, NBC, The Barksdale Group, Creative Artist Associates and entities associated with investment firms Hambrecht & Quist and Robertson Stephens. Encoding.com will use the funding to develop its technology and also to expand both in the United States and internationally. The company_s clients include technology heavyweights such as Cisco Systems, Oracle and Hewlett-Packard. Other customers include Atom Films, BMG, the Discovery Channel, Entertainment, EMusic.com, EMI-Capitol, Major League Baseball, Merck, Music Group, Sony, Warner Brothers Online and Universal New Media. Encoding.com recently announced the acquisition of multimedia applications developer Alive.com, which has created the e-Show Engine. This application simplifies the creation, hosting and management of digital media on Web sites. Encoding.com also recently announced the launch of its Consulting Services Group, which also aims to simplify the addition of digital media on Web sites. Encoding.com has alliances with streaming media companies including Microsoft, RealNetworks, Liquid Audio, interVU and a2bMusic. Prior to founding Encoding.com, Tobias spent six years at Microsoft where he worked on a business model for online distribution of software.