The Weather Channel Coverage of Hurricane Irene Aims to Keep Consumers Safe

ATLANTA, Aug. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- For The Weather Channel Companies (TWCC), keeping people prepared and safe during severe weather events is the company's number one priority. Therefore, the company is taking extensive measures across TV, online, mobile, radio and social media to keep viewers and users informed as Hurricane Irene progresses up the East Coast, affecting up to 55 million people. These measures include:

TV: The Weather Channel is pre-empting long-form programming to cover Hurricane Irene 24/7 for the foreseeable future. On-camera meteorologists stationed throughout points in Hurricane Irene's path along the East Coast include:

• Mike Seidel – Outer Banks, NC (currently Nags Head, NC)
• Eric Fisher – Norfolk, VA
• Stephanie Abrams – Outer Banks, NC (currently Duck, NC)
• Adam Berg – Jersey Shore area (currently Asbury Park, NJ)
• Jim Cantore – New York City area

(NOTE: These locations are fluid and may change quickly depending on Hurricane Irene's path).

RADIO:

• Sirius XM Radio: Beginning today, Sirius XM Radio will air The Weather Channel television feed on Sirius channel 184 and XM channel 1 to help those in the path of the hurricane track the progress and severity of the storm. In addition, SiriusXM's Road Dog Trucking Radio, channel 106, will keep the nation's truckers updated with information on highway closures and weather. Advisories with extended coverage and local updates from The Weather Channel air hourly on SiriusXM's First Traffic and Weather, channels 132 to 140.
• TWC Radio: TWC Radio meteorologists will provide our radio affiliates along the East Coast with up-to-the minute news and updates on the storm's progression.

WEATHER.COM:

• Hurricane Central: Available at www.weather.com/hurricane, this features hurricane-related content, videos, maps, forecasts and analysis. The most up-to-date news and information on current tropical systems, an interactive hurricane tracker map, hurricane preparation tips, and historical data on past storms. Keep up with the current storm track here: http://wxch.nl/qcW2KM.
• Hurricane Preparedness: Available at www.weather.com/ready, this provides valuable WeatherREADY information and links to help keep users prepared and informed before, during and after the storm, including a checklist of items to have on hand, tips for protecting your property, and more.  
• Live Chats: A hosted online live chat today until 4 p.m. ET will allow users to ask questions and get real-time severe weather updates and information directly from TWC experts, meteorologists, and local affiliates. Future chats may be added.
• Notify!: Subscribers to The Weather Channel Notify! service (www.weather.com/notify) will receive alerts by phone when severe weather warnings are issued in their area.

MOBILE:

• TWC App: Consumers will have access to severe weather alerts on TWC mobile apps on multiple devices.
• All mobile users will have access to severe coverage, Hurricane Central, TWC Social and more via weather.com on mobile browsers.
• Alerts: Sign up to receive free email or text message alerts for a local area from www.weather.com/alerts.

SOCIAL MEDIA:

• The Weather Channel Social: This is a collection of highly localized, filtered Tweets about weather and its impact in local areas. During Irene, impacted consumers can turn to Twitter and The Weather Channel to share their experiences. Check it out at www.weather.com/social. For example, here's what people in NYC are saying now: http://www.weather.com/social/fullfeed/New+York+NY+USNY0996.
• Twitter: Real-time storm updates – @TWC_hurricane. Hashtags: #hurricane, #Irene. If evacuation is necessary, evacuees can provide their own updates using #Ireneevacinfo.
• Facebook: TWC will be live streaming news and updates on our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/TheWeatherChannel.

CABLE AFFILIATES:

TWC is working with all of its cable affiliate partners to provide information to help keep their customers prepared and safe:

• Severe Weather Alerts, Hourly Updates and Evacuation Routes: Customers can sign up to receive free email or text message alerts for their local area from www.weather.com/alerts.  
• Safety & Preparedness Tips:  TWC cable affiliates can sign up for Be Ready, Weather or Not, a weather safety and preparedness campaign, developed in partnership with FEMA and the American Humane Association. 
• Additionally, TWC is encouraging its cable affiliates to post provided safety tips, prepared by TWC hurricane expert Dr. Rick Knabb, on their websites to provide critical information to customers.

There is already proof people are closely watching The Weather Channel for Hurricane Irene's progress:

• TWCC's new initiative, The Weather Channel Social, is seeing an increase in weather-related Tweets from Twitter. Significant weather events can generate more than two million Tweets on Twitter.
• The Weather Channel ranked No. 1 among television news competitors over a three-day period (8/21-8/23) among P25-54, according to Nielsen Media Research.
• Increased traffic online and on mobile. One example: TWC mobile web saw more than 9.7 million page views on Wednesday and 8.1 million on Tuesday.

About The Weather Channel Companies

The Weather Channel companies (TWCC) are made up of The Weather Channel® television network, The Weather Channel digital properties, and WSI.  The Weather Channel is based in Atlanta and is seen in more than 100 million U.S. households.  TWCC also operates Weatherscan®, a 24-hour all-local weather network; The Weather Channel Radio Network; and The Weather Channel HD.  The most popular source of weather news and information, TWCC properties reach 60 million monthly Web consumers (weather.com and Desktop) and 32 million monthly mobile users (mobile Web and applications) and offers the second most popular mobile app on all smart phones. WSI, headquartered in Andover, MA, primarily provides business-to-business weather services, particularly for the media, aviation, marine and energy sectors. TWCC is owned by a consortium made up of NBC Universal and the private equity firms The Blackstone Group and Bain Capital. For more information, visit www.weather.com/press.

SOURCE The Weather Channel

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