EWeatherMail

Weather_™

Graphical Email Forecast Service...your pictures, our system.

Questions? Need a demo  CALL! 530-899-8434
Anthony Watts-sales

ItWorks
3490 Silverbell Road
Chico, CA 95973
info@itworks.com

Last edited: 09/22/99

Q. Your service sends pictures and graphics...doesn't that take a huge amount of internet bandwidth to send thousands of these messages?
No. What makes EWeatherMail special is the unique technology we employ that causes only the commands for the graphics picture retrieval to be sent in an Email form. When the user opens the EWeatherMail for the very first time, there will be a slight delay as the commands fetch graphics or pictures from our server, your server, and any other included web content.  These graphics are "cached" on the users hard disk, so that the next time the user opens an EWeatherMail, only new or changed content is retrieved, thus giving a very fast presentation to the end user. Since no two users will open their EWeatherMails at exactly the same time, bandwidth bottlenecks are reduced.

Q. Do our viewers need any special programs or technology to make this work?
No special programs, just standard email programs that are freely available on the web. Compatible Email programs include Microsoft Outlook Microsoft Outlook Express (free, part of Internet Explorer 4.0) Netscape Communicator Mail (free from Netscape) America Online version 4.0 CD (free from AOL) or Eudora Pro email program with HTML graphic support. Any Email program that is capable of receiving and Displaying HTML will work.

Q. Can I also post the EWeatherMail content on my TV station Website for viewers to see?
Yes! In fact, we give you a web location for just this purpose. For example, KSNW in Wichita uses our service and it can be viewed in your web browser by clicking on this link: http://www.eweathermail.com/ksnw   You'll have a similar place to get your own content when you subscribe to our EWeatherMail service.

Q. Can I get this service on a market exclusive basis?
Yes, we offer both exclusive and non exclusive contracts. In the case of an exclusive contract, we would refuse service to any other radio, TV, or cable operation in your ADI/DMA. In the case of grade B signal overlaps in close metro areas, this would not apply. The cost for market exclusive use of the service is double the base rate of the service for your market size. For example, in a small market, the base rate is $100, market exclusive rate would be $200. Add-on services are still at the regular price for your market size. See Options/Terms for more pricing info.

Q. How much does it cost?
For your viewers- its free. The WeatherWarn Service charges to broadcast stations is based on market size and on the number of services you use. See Options/Terms for more pricing info.

Q. Is there any option for barter or trade of services?
Yes, we can offer market exclusive use of the service in exchange for banner ad links on your main weather page and on signup pages for WeatherWarn that may be added to your site.

Q. Is there any discount if we also purchase the WeatherWarn service?
Yes, we can offer discounts of 25% on EWeatherMail when purchase with WeatherWarn. To see details on WeatherWarn, click here

Q. Will you keep my E-mail subscribers list private?
Yes, absolutely. Your subscriber information will not be sold or given to any other organization.We can make the subscriber list available to you for use in your own promotions if you wish.

Q. I have a huge geographic area to cover, how does this service work for that?
We can cover your ADI/DMA from the individual county level all the way to a state or multi-state level, depending on how your coverage area is setup, we may suggest offering your viewers different grouping areas for weather forecasts so that they only get weather forecasts that affects them. Viewers can subscribe to multiple areas if they wish.

Q. Can I have a "metro" coverage for the service as well as an outer area coverage?
Yes, absolutely. Each can be its own separate forecast area. For example for KTVT in Dallas, we setup two metro regions for Dallas and Fort Worth, plus four outer area regions (NE,SE, SW,NW) for all other areas.

Q. How hard is it for viewers to turn off the service?
It's very easy. Just have them come back to your Internet web page and unsubscribe using the form we provide. Instruction for unsubscribing are at the bottom of each EWeatherMail and welcome message.

Q. Can I have my meteorologist approve the forecast before it gets sent out?
Yes! For example KSNW in Wichita, KS sends a twice daily forecast each day. They get the "virgin" EWeatherMail in the weather office before it gets distributed to subscribers. They approve and/or edit it, and send it back to our system for automatic distribution.

Q. Can I send out my own weather bulletins or custom forecasts to my subscribers?
Yes! We have an optional WeatherWarn service that handles this for you for text email and Alphanumeric pagers.  We can also provide you with an EWeatherMail graphic template that can be edited in your Weather Center You send the edited template in an email to our system. If the email passes both domain and security criteria, we'll send it to your EWeatherMail subscribers.

Q. Can I put a sponsorship in the automatic messages sent by EWeatherMail?
You sure can! Each message sent by the EWeatherMail system has a HTML "template" used to build the graphical Email. These can be customized to read anyway you want. We can include sponsorship messages, links to web pages, links to sponsors, and links back to your own web site.

Q. Can I make use of my existing web site content using this service?
Yes! We can include graphics, pictures, video clips, etc such as Doppler radar pictures, satellite images, skycam pictures, etc that already exist on your web site. Its fully automatic. You don't need any special preparations to make this work with EWeatherMail.

Q. Can I send streaming video of my newscast using this service?
No, but you can have a pictorial "thumbnail" link in the header or footer back to the web page location where you have this setup.

Q. Can I make bulletins appear on my TV screen using this service?
No. This is strictly an internet service.

Q. How many subscribers can you handle?
We can support millions of subscribers. We have servers placed in each time zone of the US so that each time zone is separately supported. Each server is capable of delivering up to a million EWeatherMails per hour.