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TS News - Bertha Boosts Weather Channel

TELE-satellit News, 17 July 1996

Bertha Boosts Weather Channel
  ATLANTA, Georgia, USA, 96/07/17 (TS) -- Hurricane Bertha may have evoked
fear in most hearts, but the hurricane has had a major positive impact in at
least one area -- weather news viewership, as the Weather Channel reports.

  Atlanta-based The Weather Channel reports a doubling of its ratings with
an average viewership of 350,000 (up from 173,000 late last week). The
ratings for viewership have increased 85% since the same time, just one year
ago.

  Most notable is that The Weather Channel edged out CNN in primetime
Wednesday and Thursday evenings, even with CNN's own ratings up from normal
on Wednesday (July 10) due to a special Ross Perot interview on "Larry King
Live".

  The five-day average of 365,000 households "blew away" CNN's 266,000 by
37% and Headline News by 136%. In fact, primetime viewing reached 471,000
(rating of .744) on Thursday (July 11) which represents well over a double
from the end of last week's average of 154,000. A.M.  ratings also peaked in
a tropical update segment before the early morning newscast at 8 a.m.
However, the best rating in primetime was the 10 p.m.  WeatherScope, which
swept away the competition with a viewership of 640,000.

  According to Bruce Humbert, director of strategic and consumer research at
The Weather Channel, her record ratings have pushed Hurricane Bertha onto
The Weather Channel's top 20 weather events in its history.


(c)TELE-satellit 1996. All rights reserved.
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