THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 9, 1994 TAG: 9407090228
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: WIRE REPORT
DATELINE: ATLANTA LENGTH: Short : 41 lines
The Atlanta-based Weather Channel plans to expand globally and has named a senior executive to head the effort.
John Mathwick, named senior vice president for international development, will head a team that will study where the successful 24-hour weather cable programmer should expand and what it should offer.
``I don't know where our first focus will be, but we're looking at virtually the entire world for distribution,'' said Michael J. Eckert, the Weather Channel's chief executive.
The Weather Channel is owned by privately held media conglomerate Landmark Communications. Norfolk-based Landmark owns The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star.
The Weather Channel is one of the country's most successful cable channels, with more than 55 million subscribers.
International expansion is hot among cable programmers. Among the channels trying to woo overseas subscribers are Ted Turner's CNN and TNT, Viacom's MTV and Nickelodeon, and Time Warner's HBO.
In Mathwick, the Weather Channel has an executive familiar with overseas markets; he studied international markets for Jones Cable Group. Today, the Denver-based Jones is the United Kingdom's third-largest cable operator.
Landmark's cable programmers are no stranger to overseas markets. The Weather Channel has been in Canada since 1988. Its sister operation, The Travel Channel, launched a European version in 1993.
``We have been assessing global opportunities for some time and feel the time is now correct for (the Weather Channel) to continue its international expansion,'' Eckert said.
KEYWORDS: CABLE TELEVISION by CNB