WRAL-TV Introduces Hurricane Coverage on Mobile Phones Using News Over Wireless

On Thursday, June 9, 2005, WRAL-TV once again earned its role as a leader in television news and new technology, adding hurricane coverage to its revolutionary new coverage on cell phones. WRAL News information about Tropical Storm Arlene, the first named storm of the 2005 hurricane season, inaugurated the feature by being continually distributed to the mobile platform. WRAL News provided subscribers with complete storm coverage, including location, wind strength, heading, and forecast maps. Such coverage will continue throughout the hurricane season.

“Hurricanes are powerful storms that have tremendous impact on the lives of our viewers, and this year is supposed to be particularly active. Providing users with up to the minute information via our mobile phone application means WRAL’s trusted and reliable forecasts are always within reach of our viewers,” said Jim Hefner, Vice President and General Manager of WRAL.

Sam Matheny, General Manager of News Over Wireless, adds, “WRAL has done a superb job of using News Over Wireless to deliver potentially life saving information to mobile users. Access to such critical information highlights the importance of the local broadcaster and the immediacy that our application provides.”

WRAL News has added seasonal hurricane coverage to its existing mobile wireless content, which includes local news, US/World news, Doppler radar images, satellite weather images, five day forecasts, weather alerts, and continually updated views from fifty traffic cameras across the Raleigh-Durham viewing area. WRAL News is the first local broadcaster in the nation to provide news coverage via cell phones.

Sprint PCS Vision customers can subscribe to WRAL’s news and information application by visiting mobile.wral.com or they can download the application from the Download menu on their handset. The monthly fee is $3.99 for unlimited access to the service. This is in addition to the subscribers’ monthly Vision data plan.

Thanks to WRAL-TV’s John Harris for this capcom story.