The Weather Channel has decided to help improve MSOs' high-speed Internet business forecast by linking its Web site to one that promotes cable-modem service.
Weather.com will now include several prominent links to Go2Broadband (www.go2broadband.com), the cable-industry site at which consumers can find out if high-speed-data service is available in their area.
Weather.com — which draws an average of 350 million page views per month, according to Jupiter Media Metrix — has placed the link on every video content page on its site, including its high-traffic video table of contents.
These are the spots that were deemed most likely to attract narrowband users who are interested in upgrading to broadband service.
Links to the Go2Broadband.com site will also be placed within Weather.com's video help and video preferences section, where customers select their connection speed.
"Weather.com will have significant effect on this initiative, not only because we have one of the most popular Web sites for any cable network, but also because of the unique and advantageous ways we have positioned the links on our site," said Weather.com vice president of product management Tom Flournoy.
Go2Broadband — a project backed by the Cable Television Laboratories Inc. consortium — is an attempt to assemble a master database of available cable-modem services. Users who visit go2broadband.com can see if their home is passed by cable-modem service, and can leave their address and contact information. That information is then passed on to the appropriate MSO for follow-up.
"Having The Weather Channel and weather.com join in promoting Go2Broadband will add to the potential of the CableLabs initiative to connect cable operators with potential customers," said CableLabs director of electronic commerce J.P. Singh. "This will be a contributing force to the growth of the high-speed cable modem business within the cable TV industry, and will be a win-win situation for Weather Channel and the cable operators."
