The Weather Company Selects Sony Media Cloud Services' Ci Platform for Global Video Collaboration, Production and Distribution

CULVER CITY, Calif., Feb. 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- When The Weather Company (Weather) needed a robust and secure cloud-based platform that could handle video content as ever-changing as the weather, they looked to Sony Media Cloud Services for a solution. Weather's teams, which are located across the globe producing webisodes, long-form content and field reports, are challenged with shortened time frames and delivery constraints. Looking to make video content instantly available to producers, Weather enlisted Sony Media Cloud Services' Ci video platform to give it the ability to collaborate on time-sensitive weather footage, make production decisions, and upload content available for distribution – to and from any location in the world – including the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

"Millions of people depend on The Weather Company every day to provide the world's best weather forecasts, content and data through television, online and mobile formats. With time constraints a critical factor, Weather wanted to streamline production workflows and increase efficiency for its global production teams and reporters," said Naomi Climer, president, Sony Media Cloud Services. "Ci enables Weather to stand up teams instantaneously wherever events happen and gives them a platform to upload, review and access content fast – so they can get broadcasts to the public even faster. That's critical when you're in the weather business."

"We have 100 different things come up at once. We needed one streamlined solution that could handle anything we threw at it. As an early partner to work with Sony on the Ci platform, we helped incorporate new capabilities that worked for us," said Philip Grossman, senior director of content acquisition and management at The Weather Company. "With Ci, I can orchestrate who has access to content and easily organize all of the teams. Our webisodic team sends content globally, and all they have to do is log in to Ci, upload their content, and in 20 minutes or less they all have access. It's simply a great singular answer to a lot of challenges."

Weather is the latest in a stream of forward-thinking media entities integrating cloud technologies from Sony Media Cloud Services into its production workflows. Ci is offered in a variety of subscriptions and packages to suit all production budgets and workflow requirements with a free five-gigabyte self-service account available online at https://www.sonymcs.com/free5gb-signup/.

About Sony Media Cloud Services LLC

Sony Media Cloud Services, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, revolutionizes media and entertainment production workflows with Ci, a media-centric cloud platform with innovative applications that empower creative professionals and the next generation of filmmakers to create, share, and collaborate with high-value media. Utilized by large-scale productions, independently produced films, television shows, universities, advertising agencies, sports and news companies, videographers, editors, and prosumers, Ci's browser-based Software-as-a-Service platform connects people, content, and devices from any location in the world to make the creative process more streamlined, collaborative, and cost effective. For more information, please visit www.sonymcs.com.

The Weather Company: Where the World Gets its Weather
Through The Weather Channel, weather.com, Weather Underground, Intellicast.com, and third-party publishing partners, the company provides millions of people every day with the world's best weather forecasts, content and data, connecting with them through television, online, mobile and tablet screens. Through WSI and Weather Central, the company delivers superior professional weather services for the media, aviation, marine and energy sectors. The Weather Company is owned by a consortium made up of NBC Universal and the private equity firms The Blackstone Group and Bain Capital. For more information, visit www.weather.com/press.

SOURCE Sony Media Cloud Services