AccuWeather, Inc. and Newsroom Solutions announced today a strategic alliance leveraging best-of-breed meteorological and graphics expertise to introduce a revolutionary on-air weather warning system. FirstWarn HD® powered by NewsTicker empowers stations to present severe weather warning graphics consistent with the breakthrough standard set by AccuWeather's CinemaLive HD.
"Our customers asked us for a truly comprehensive severe weather warning system that matched the rich 3D weather space of CinemaLive HD," said Barry Lee Myers, CEO, AccuWeather, Inc. "This best-of-breed alliance of two leaders in viewer communications puts the WOW! in weather warnings with the industry's most advanced severe weather notification display."
"This alliance accomplishes the integration of our leading-edge FreedomHD graphical display technology -- already deployed at over 300 stations -- with the unmatched meteorological
expertise of AccuWeather," said Rick Summers, Vice President of Newsroom Solutions. "When two market leaders cooperate to combine complementary technologies into a revolutionary solution, products emerge that are unrivalled in the market place."
FirstWarn HD powered by NewsTicker is based on Newsroom's version 4 release of NewsTicker SevereWx, to be shipped this quarter. It helps viewers quickly locate themselves within the severe weather space and aids viewers by providing an animated map of a station's market - fully labeled with landmarks from interstates to city names and locations, boundaries, and waterways. Then, as each active condition is shown, the name of the county is displayed in a "mini-crawl" to speak to viewers who can't visually determine their location. Radar images are also combined with the display. FirstWarn HD empowers stations to show multiple active conditions for each county, with expiration times for the warnings and information on storm direction.
All warnings incorporate station branding. To best complement the station's own look, a rich menu of display formats is available.
FirstWarn HD powered by NewsTicker receives multiple, redundant NOAA/NWS weather feeds via satellite and Internet to ensure that every warning is displayed immediately. Warnings can be automatically formatted for display or edited by station personnel.
The industry's most advanced severe weather notification display, FirstWarn HD powered by NewsTicker supports both 720p HD, and 1080i HD and also provides immediate website export of warning content.
FirstWarn HD powered by NewsTicker is available immediately.
