THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, March 26, 1996 TAG: 9603260313
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVE MAYFIELD, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 43 lines
The Weather Channel, sunnily disposed after racking up strong ratings and ad-sales gains in the United States, is now planning a major overseas expansion.
The 24-hour weather network, a unit of Norfolk-based Landmark Communications Inc., is planning summer launches in at least six European markets. In addition, company executives have said in news releases or trade-press interviews that they're sizing up other European countries for future rollouts. And a Latin American version of the channel is in the offing.
The Atlanta-based network said in a news release that it plans by June to have channels up in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. In the release, The Weather Channel said it plans futureannouncements about startups in a dozen more European markets, which it declined to specify.
However, Weather Channel Chief Executive Michael J. Eckert told the Multichannel News trade magazine last month that a German-language weather channel, which Landmark is launching in a joint venture with five European companies, should begin live programming sometime in the second quarter from a base in Dusseldorf.
Eckert said in the same interview that a Latin American version of the channel will likely begin operation in the third or fourth quarter of this year.
The Weather Channel, begun in 1982, is one of the largest U.S. TV networks, with 63 million cable and satellite subscribers. It registered a ratings increase of more than 20 percent last year.
The Weather Channel's parent, Landmark, also owns The Virginian-Pilot, six other daily newspapers, TV stations in Nashville and Las Vegas, along with The Travel Channel and dozens of other newspapers and specialty publications.
KEYWORDS: LANDMARK COMMUNICATIONS THE WEATHER CHANNEL by CNB