Williams gets court approval for iBeam buy

A bankruptcy court has agreed to let Williams Communications, a high-speed network operator, purchase all assets of iBeam Broadcasting for $25 million in cash. Under the terms approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, Williams said it would acquire the struggling streaming media company's facility and equipment leases, customer contracts and other assets. The company added that $6 million of the purchase amount would be used to repay a loan from Williams, iBeam's principle shareholder. The loan was intended to ensure uninterrupted operations during the iBeam bankruptcy proceedings. Williams said it would weave iBeam's services into its broadband media service. iBeam, which filed for bankruptcy in October, ran a satellite network that promised to deliver more efficient audio and video feeds over the Internet.