Weather dot-controversy
The Weather Channel has applied for the "dot-weather" domain; rivals livid.
Weather dot-controversy
The ubiquitous Weather Channel set off a storm when it decided unilaterally to name winter storms this season over the objections of its competitors.
But that storm might look like a spring shower compared to the one stirred by TWC's application to claim the "dot-weather" Internet suffix.
"It's one of the least-professional things I've seen ... in a long time," said Barry Lee Myers, chief executive officer of Accu-Weather Inc.
"The application was a part of a widely publicized open process," TWC's David Blumenthal said in a statement. "The Weather Channel was the only entity that chose to apply for .weather."
"It crossed our minds," said Myers. "We looked at it and said, 'Why would anybody ever do this. It's such an egregious concept."
A bit of backround.
As our Jeff Gelles wrote in an Inquirer story last June, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers decided to expand a universe dominated by addresses ending in familiar suffixes -- for example, .org. com, . edu.
The result has been described as a "land rush" as almost 2,000 applications were received. Among the proposed new suffixes were dot-Apple and dot-NFL. The process is not for the shallow of pocket -- the non-refundable application fee is $185,000.
But in Myers's view what TWC is proposing constitutes a land grab. The entities joining Accu-Weather in opposing the application include Unisys and Earth Networks Inc.
Myers said the concept that TWC would stake such a claim is preposterous. "They want to take complete control over domain names," he said. "It's just anti-competitive."
Among other things, he said, the dot-weather suffix would give TWC a tremendous advantage in drawing web traffic.
Myers said he was particulary rankled by this statement in the TWC application: “Consumer trust has been eroded by unauthorized and inaccurate sources of information.”
"There's no support for any of this," he said."This is downright offense to companies like Accu-Weather. Myers said using the term "unauthorized" implies falsely the existence of a government authorization process.
"If anything," he said, "Everyone in the field has built a greater and greater trust and conscern for precision and accuracy."
Stop whining and lying Myers. You're just mad that TWC beat you to the punch.— fightins4ever- Try getting the weather correct instead of coming up with dumb names for storms and then overhyping them.— towman
- Who cares....after the weather channel.....the networks are bogus anyway....they hire weather bimbos, buy logoed parkas and make a big deal of every weather change as if it was anythng at all.....When the networks stop agendasizing the weather and dramaticizing every stinkin drop of particaption and hire competent people versus the gorgeous weather bimbo....they might have credibility.....but dont count on it....— nuggett
- particaption??? — uncle meat
- Meteorlogix is the best weather company out there anyway.— Elbarad
Wow! Who would have thought that a company in America would do something so unscrupulous? Shocking!— ej610- Hey!!!! While we're at it- how about .congresss**ks?— mrjarn
I'm with fightin4ever, it's been out there for nearly a year. You didn't want to pony up the cash, but now you're crying to momma.— verve- Not sure if Accuweather should be complaining about another organization being "unprofessional". I stick with the NWS Mt Holly office, it's free and staffed by professional meteorologists.— meteo30
- This is the same Accuweather that used Rick Santorum to try and push through a plan to essentially prohibit the National Weather Service from providing forecasts. Boo hoo.— Politburo
- The weather channel really has no competition when it comes to 24 hour TV weather source... unfortunately they can do whatever they want. I hate watching it but nowhere else to go.— HAROLD Eskin
- The Weather Channel idiots should be taken off the air for giving winter storms those stupid names.— The_Unknown-Poster
- Weatherunderground is my favorite for weather on the web.— Tatt2
- Sounds like TWC was simply the more aggressive BUSINESS. After all, these are all businesses we're talking about, right? Imagine that, a business acting in it's own best financial interest. Hey Meyers, this is why you're CEO of a weather forecasting company and not a real company.— CiceroSpuriousDeodatusTheSecond
Tony Wood has been writing about the atmosphere for The Inquirer for 26 years. E-mail Tony here. And read all his columns here.
