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Premiere Networks, the producer of popular talk radio shows from Rush Limbaugh, Art Bell, and Dr. Laura Schlesinger, has opted not to renew its contracts with Yahoo Broadcast, the streaming media division of the Internet portal.

On Jan. 1, Premiere began hosting its own RealAudio and Windows Media streams of radio programs from its Web sites. Visitors to sections at Yahoo Broadcast devoted to Premiere's talk show personalities are greeted with a terse message about the contract expiration, but with no direct link to the Premiere-hosted sites. Also gone are streams from Premiere hosts Michael Reagan and Dr. Dean Edell.

The leading talk radio network in the United States and the third largest overall in the country, Premiere has decided it's ready to eliminate the middleman, according to Brian Glicklich, vice president of interactive services.

"We can certainly duplicate any of their infrastructure, and when Rush Limbaugh says on 600 radio stations to go to a particular Web site to listen to a stream of the show, that's probably got at least equal value to having it all conglomerated at Broadcast.com," Glicklich said.

Yahoo Broadcast officials were not available for comment. According to the latest annual report from broadcast.com, which Yahoo (YHOO) acquired last July, the company depends on Premiere to sell a majority of its on-air national ad spots, which are a major source of revenue for Yahoo Broadcast. That contract expired January 1, according to Premiere's Glicklich. Premiere also purchased an undisclosed stake in Broadcast.com in 1996. The status of that investment was not immediately clear.

Premiere's departure from Yahoo Broadcast was amicable and had been planned for months, according to Glicklich. The decision was not related to recent reports from several Yahoo Broadcast radio affiliates that the portal is bullying them to adopt Microsoft's Windows Media technology and drop support for RealNetworks' (RNWK) RealAudio.

"We're format agnostic and not in the business of telling people what technology to use. Generally speaking it's been somewhat easier to do business with Microsoft than Real, but we embrace both formats and anticipate continuing to do so," Glicklich said.

At least one Premiere site, ArtBell.com, which Yahoo had only offered in RealAudio, will use the contract expiration to add support for Windows Media, according to Webmaster Keith Rowland.

Last week, Yahoo dismissed reports of the impending switch of stations to Windows Media as "rumor and speculation," while Real insisted its relationship with Yahoo is strong. As first reported by InternetNews.com, sources said a new agreement that will keep Real's technology at Yahoo was signed last month, although neither company has publicly confirmed it.

Premiere's decision to go it alone signals a shift in strategy for the broadcast radio industry. Initially very tentative toward streaming media, radio broadcasters are now embracing the medium.

"They realize that they've got the distributional power, they own the content, they're selling the ads, and the back-end technology is becoming increasingly commoditizes, said Aram Sinnreich, an analyst with Jupiter Communications. "That means Broadcast.com's leverage in a relationship like this has been eroding and bodes changes for Yahoo's business model."

For Premiere, streaming audio offers a unique means of reaching office workers who otherwise wouldn't have access to the broadcaster's live daytime programming.

"We're saying to listeners, 'If you tell us when, how, and where you want to listen, we'll do everything to make thatpossible.' With the popularity of Internet radio, it just makes sense for us to have control of that particular piece of destiny," said Glicklich.

But going it alone without Yahoo or another content aggregator is not without risks, says Rob Martin, an Internet analyst with Friedman Billings Ramsey.

"If Premiere thinks they can do it, more power to them. But it's a pretty cumbersome task and [success] depends on how much internal capability you have."

Yahoo Broadcast is so diversified that the loss of one content provider will not materially impact its business, although it is a minor embarrassment, said Martin. But the rise of vertical portals and the tendency for big partners to want to host their own content presents a challenge for the portal.

"As the Web verticalizes, it will be Yahoo Broadcast's job to navigate people to the best content on the Web, and not lose sight of that. If they just navigate people to their best commerce partners they won't be as effective."