Trafficking In Info for Commuters

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Everybody hates L.A.’s gridlock, but for Time Warner Cable it’s a business opportunity.

Los Angeles County’s largest cable provider is banking that bringing a Weather Channel-like approach to traffic conditions will help it attract subscribers. Call it Sigalert on steroids.

Beat the Traffic, launched last week, provides real-time, data-driven traffic reports throughout Southern California on cable and the Internet, and to cell phones.

During rush hours, Time Warner’s Channel 101 features 3-D maps of freeways and roads that display traffic data pulled from the California Department of Transportation and other monitoring networks. Different county maps rotate, with a live anchor breaking in every 10 minutes.

“Traffic is an issue we all deal with,” said Patricia Fregoso-Cox, regional vice president of the cable operator, a unit of New York-based media conglomerate Time Warner.

The TV service is available only to cable subscribers, but the Web site (beatthetraffic.com) and mobile app are free.

Time Warner isn’t the only company eyeing L.A.’s notorious traffic as a business opportunity.

Earlier in the month, New York radio programming syndicator Westwood One acquired the popular Sigalert traffic information service from San Diego’s Jaytu Technologies. It plans to supply traffic information to broadcast radio affiliates throughout the country, and via the Internet and cell phones.

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