Dotcast gets $50M and new backers

Dotcast, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company that plans to transmit digital data through the analog television spectrum, has received roughly $50 million in new funding from The Walt Disney Co., GE Equity, disk-drive manufacturer Quantum Corp. and venture-capital firm Worldview Technology Partners. Returning investors in Dotcast's second financing round include Intel Capital and Angel Investors LP. Dotcast, which has raised more than $80 million overall and also counts Tribune Ventures, Pacific Century Cyberworks and Softnet Systems as backers, plans to launch its service by late 2001 using the broadcast towers of PBS member stations.