Weather Channel To Offer Mobile Video Forecasts

weather.jpgThe Weather Channel will this week launch a new mobile video forecasts service powered by Vantrix, a content delivery startup we wrote about in September.

The new service is claimed to be a first in this space and will involve the production and streaming of over 5000 mobile video clips per day covering 100 cities, with new clips made available every 30 minutes.

During the initial pilot, the service will be available on most video-capable phones from the four largest US carriers (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile), with carrier and handset coverage to be expanded after the initial trial. The videos will be encoded in H.264 which in theory should provide access to iPhones as well.

The Weather Channel will have access to 80 million handsets during the pilot program.