Atlanta-based Weather Channel Enterprises Inc., is expanding rapidly into Europe through wireless and Web technologies, according to Pascal Racheneur, the company’s director of international product development.
The Weather Channel’s European Web sites, www.weather.co.uk in Britain, www.meteo123.com in France and www.wetter123.com in Germany, are increasingly popular in Europe, Mr. Racheneur told GlobalFax in an interview at the Weather Channel’s world headquarters in Atlanta.
With more than 10 million Web site hits per month, www.weather.co.uk is the UK’s second most used Internet resource for weather information, following the BBC World Service, he added.
“Europe is way ahead of our other international markets in terms of implementing wireless and interactive applications from the Weather Channel,” Eduardo Ruiz, the Weather Channel’s president of international operations, said in an interview from his office in Miami.
Mr. Ruiz also started in 1996 The Weather Channel Latin America, which is comprised of Spanish and Portuguese 24-hour television networks and two Web sites, www.weather.com/espanol and www.canaldotempo.com
Mr. Racheneur said the company is growing its market in European countries, especially in the UK, because people are used to receiving text messaging and other information via cellular phones or other wireless devices.
The Weather Channel’s concentration is currently on Europe, he said, but the company plans to target Asia next year, beginning with Japan and Taiwan and, possibly, China, Mr. Ruiz said.
Contact Mr. Racheneur at (770) 226-2113 or pracheneur@weather.com. Visit www.weather.com for current weather conditions, forecasts and other local and global weather information.