Weathernews Mobile Brief

Weathernews is teaming with local broadcast affiliates across the nation to build the WNI Network, a network of broadcasters delivering local video content to mobile phones. Using the first-ever Java-based video applet to deliver this local content, Weathernews has initiated a limited roll-out with its Oklahoma-based partner, Griffin Communications. Currently, Griffin's television stations in Oklahoma City (KWTV) and Tulsa (KOTV) are producing video weathercasts from their trusted meteorologists specifically for mobile subscribers. Set to roll-out nationally in early Q1 of 2006, video content from more WNI Network partners will include local weather, and eventually news, traffic, and sports, which will be delivered via WNI's new "LiveLocal" mobile application.

Initially compatible with Sprint's multimedia-capable phones, WNI's LiveLocal application is the only mobile Java application to incorporate MPEG 4 video technology that brings local content from broadcast stations across the nation to subscribers' mobile phones. Broadcasters can use the power of this new technology to bring additional revenue to their businesses and to extend their brand and trusted personalities deeper into the daily lives of their television audiences.

In addition to viewing weathercasts produced exclusively for mobile users, subscribers to LiveLocal can get detailed, real-time weather information for over 60,000 locations worldwide, color radar, 7-day forecasts, city images with sky conditions overlaid, National Weather Service advisories, and other useful information.

Daniel Scalisi, vice president of Media Services for Weathernews Americas Inc. says "We are helping broadcasters and carriers get personal with their audiences. Deploying our video technology as a Java applet allows carriers to more easily implement this true next-generation functionality and offer their subscribers not just video content but local and personalized video content on demand. Additionally, broadcasters now have an easy, turnkey way to deliver their content to an entirely new demographic."

Some football fans make going to games a ritual. They pack the hot dogs and beer, fire up the travel grill, and rip open the bag of chips all hidden in the back of their SUV. But when the weather is bad, do they let it rain on their Rose Bowl parade? Nope.

For the 2005-2006 NFL season, Weathernews is featuring "Stadium Skylines" - football stadium photographs of all 31 NFL locations along with actual current sky conditions. Now, when the forecast calls for a downpour, football fans have no excuse for soggy franks if they forget their umbrellas.

For the rest of the season, Weathernews is conducting a steady PR campaign targeting daily newspapers, fantasy football sites and other consumer sports reporters looking for a new angle to cover on the games. If you want to participate in a unique marketing opportunity targeting sports reporters, feel free to contact your local Weathernews representative.

A series of tornadoes brought death and destruction to a broad area of the Midwest this past November. In the deadliest incident, 22 people lost their lives when a powerful F3 twister struck Kentucky and southern Indiana on November 6th. Nearly 600 homes sustained major damage or were destroyed. Just 8 days later, more tornadoes wreaked further havoc in the same region. The twisters are being spawned by an unusual weather pattern caused by the convergence of unseasonably warm temperatures with rapidly moving cold fronts. Tornado season typically runs from May to July. However, as this atypical season proves, a second spike of tornadoes that sometimes occurs in October, November and December can prove even more deadly.

November's unusual tornado season has put a big spin on news headlines. All of the major news media outlets including cable giants CNN, Fox News, and the broadcast networks ran top of the news stories about the devastation in the wake of the twisters. The Associated Press, a network of more than 5,000 media outlets including broadcast, cable, and newspapers issued several stories related to the tornadoes. Stories were generated well beyond the region directly affected by the twisters. These stories ranged from factual accounts of the devastation to human interest stories such as the tragic story of a man describing the loss of his mother in Iowa.

Weathernews rates tornadoes as a HOT topic. Residents in tornado prone areas want to be kept well informed and prepared for any twisters. The rest of us just want to comprehend their fury and are fascinated by tales of survival. We clamor to watch movies that feature twisters, including the 'Wizard of Oz' and 'Twister', and watch television news shows and documentaries for real tornado footage. We want to know where and when tornadoes happen, what impact they make in their path, and how we can help to pick up the pieces left in their wake. Twisters generate headliners and big stories that spread beyond mere weather news. They take the media by storm, as they did this past November.

Overheated oil prices finally cooled off with some warm weather this past November. U.S. light crude oil fell below $57 a barrel on November 8th. This was a decline from a record price of nearly $71 a barrel at the end of August. The decline was attributed to increased oil inventories due to warmer than average temperatures across the U.S. Northeast, the world's largest oil consuming region. Prices heated up again when a cold front spread across the Northeast around Thanksgiving. However, prices quickly cooled off again when warmer weather was forecast again. By November 28th, oil prices were back below $57 a barrel.

The warmer weather's effect on oil prices made business headlines throughout the world. Reuters provided stories about each bounce in the oil price to its over 1,000 key newspapers and publishers and 450 of the world's largest news broadcasters. Bloomberg also provided stories to its affiliates of 350 leading newspapers and magazines worldwide which include the NY Times, Washington Post, LA Times and the Boston Globe. The Associated Press, a network of more than 5,000 media outlets including broadcast, cable, and newspapers issued stories related to the bounce in oil prices due to the weather. Stories about oil and the weather were reported by CNN, MSNBC, FoxNews, Forbes and other major media outlets.

Weathernews rates the weather's dampening of oil prices as a MILD topic. The price of oil is so volatile that it adjusts to every change in the weather forecast. Those adjustments bring headlines to major business news media worldwide. Businesses are interested in following each change in oil price since high oil prices erode their bottom line. Consumers eagerly watch for news of lower prices at the pump and on their home heating oil. As Weathernews' November media watch shows, businesses and consumers finally had something to cheer about when above average temperatures cooled down the high cost of oil.

October 8th's magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Pakistan killed 87,000 people and left as many as about 3.5 million homeless. While some aid is reaching those survivors, they are still ill prepared to face the onslaught of a brutal winter. Their tents are not winterized, and many survivors have no shelter at all. According to the top U.N. humanitarian official, it is a race against time to help over 200,000 people who live in the mountainous regions of the Himalayas in Kashmir and the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan where predictions are calling for an unusually harsh winter. Subfreezing temperatures and snowfall are being blamed for at least 100 cases of hypothermia including a case that caused the death of an infant during November. Tent fires are also threatening quake survivors as the fires are lit by people who are just trying to stay warm in their inadequate shelter.

The news media continued to focus attention on the quake survivors during November, with particular attention paid to their plight this winter. Stories were put out by the Associated Press and picked up by the major news outlets including broadcast, cable and the press. The story continued to dominate international headlines, especially in the affected region. However, the story no longer dominated the front page headline of the United States press. The U.S. press had turned much of its attention to the tornadoes in the Midwest and other events.

Weathernews rates the freezing of the quake survivors as a COOL topic. Interest in the Pakistani quake had cooled down somewhat along with the temperature. However, relief organizations such as the United Nations have tried to reignite public interest since their fundraising has only been able to raise less than half of what is needed for the relief effort. They have been successful in their efforts to keep the story alive by issuing statements to the media that describe the horror of the winter faced by the survivors. If the winter is as brutal as expected, it is likely that the quake death toll will rise and that the story will remain in the news.