The Weather Channel Introduces The New Desktop Weather - The Ultimate Weather and Lifestyle Information Resource

The Weather Channel Introduces The New Desktop Weather - The Ultimate Weather and Lifestyle Information Resource

Provides Up-to-the-Minute Weather Information and Comprehensive Lifestyle Content Directly from the Desktop and enables Advertisers to Identify and Reach Highly Segmented Audiences

ATLANTA, March 15 /PRNewswire/ -- The Weather Channel today announced the launch of a new and enhanced version of Desktop Weather, the tremendously popular desktop application, already downloaded by millions of consumers. Designed for those seeking an ultimate resource for instantaneous, accurate and highly localized weather and lifestyle information, the new Desktop Weather is highlighted by more weather information, sharper and more stimulating graphics and maps and the most comprehensive lifestyle information available from a resource of its kind. Desktop Weather also offers a number of significant enhancements for advertisers, enabling marketers to reach an identified and segmented target audience time and time again. This enhanced version can be downloaded today at weather.com and will soon be available from popular Web destinations such as Netscape, MLB.com and Real Networks.

"Consumers have high expectations from The Weather Channel, and we have completely redesigned and reengineered the new Desktop Weather application to fulfill those expectations," said Matthew de Ganon, Vice President of Consumer Applications Software. "We're delivering new entertainment features like videos and photos and we've made significant improvements to the navigation and design. And users can be sure that all the data and information on the site comes from the most trusted and reliable source of weather information, The Weather Channel."

A key new feature powering current forecasts on the new Desktop Weather is The Weather Channel's proprietary HiRAD technology. While other weather providers rely on a relatively small set of physical sensors to provide weather information for the entire country, HiRAD, launched last month, provides weather information for millions of locations, making standalone sensor networks obsolete. Through Desktop Weather, users will be able to obtain the most current and detailed weather information for any spot that is important to them.

The new Desktop Weather features severe weather alerts, weather planning tools such as hourly, 3-day and 10-day forecasts, extensive maps, daily video and photo content, and lifestyle content for a variety of interests such as golf, fitness and ski enthusiasts, to name a few.

For the advertising community, the new Desktop Weather provides advertisers with a highly effective environment to reach deeply segmented target audiences, enabling them to play a role in the users' daily lives. Compared to previous versions, it will offer broader reach, greater segmentation capabilities, greater user retention and a large distribution network. Rich media and eye-catching graphics are supported, allowing advertisers to deliver marketing messages in a more visually compelling and memorable fashion.

"In addition to providing a more entertaining environment for the general user, the significant enhancements to Desktop Weather will also benefit our advertisers," said Peter Green, vice president, National Sales Manager. "We project the new Desktop Weather will become a daily tool used by more than 10 million users by the end of this year, providing advertisers with an opportunity to move front-and-center in their target audiences' lives. We've already received an enthusiastic response from advertisers, such as Celebrity Cruises, Hilton Garden Inn, Holiday Inn Express, LowerMyBills, Patanol, Sprint, The New York Times, Vonage, and Walgreens, among many others, who appreciate the ability Desktop Weather has to help them deliver marketing messages to their respective target audiences."

As with all of its interactive products and tools, The Weather Channel embraces safety in downloading and is completely disassociated with the incorporation of spyware or adware in its downloadable applications. Desktop Weather has been "white-listed" by firewall providers such as Norton and Zone Alarm, confirming that it is spyware and adware free.

"We strongly believe that being a trusted daily resource to our consumers goes hand in hand with respecting their privacy," said de Ganon. "We will continue to honor that trust and protect our users by being a safe, clean download."

About The Weather Channel

The Weather Channel, a 24-hour weather network, is seen in over 88 million U.S. households. Its Web site, weather.com, attracts more than 25 million unique users per month and is currently ranked number 10 among all Web sites by Nielsen//NetRatings. The Weather Channel also operates Weatherscan(R), a 24-hour, all-local weather network distributed to almost 7 million households, The Weather Channel Radio Network, The Weather Channel Newspaper Services and is the leading weather information provider for emerging technologies. This includes PC applications, broadband and interactive television applications, with wireless weather products accessible through high-speed Internet services, phones, pagers, Palm Pilots, and other personal digital assistants. The Weather Channel is owned by Landmark Communications, Inc., a Norfolk, VA- based, privately-held media company.

For More Information Contact:

Vu Chung Kathy Lane Euro RSCG Magnet The Weather Channel 212-367-6921 770-226-2102 vu.chung@eurorscg.comklane@weather.com

Source: The Weather Channel

CONTACT: Vu Chung of Euro RSCG Magnet, +1-212-367-6921, or vu.chung@eurorscg.com ; or Kathy Lane of The Weather Channel, +1-770-226-2102, or klane@weather.com

Web site: http://www.weather.com/

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