DTN: История американской компании агроинформационных услуг

American weather forecasting company

DTN, previously known as Telvent DTN, Data Transmission Network and Dataline, is a private company based in Bloomington, Minnesota that specializes in subscription based services for the analysis and delivery of real time weather, agricultural, energy, and commodity market information. As of 2018 the company has approximately 600,000 subscribers, mostly in the United States. DTN is known for its accurate meteorological forecasting and large network of weather stations, its market analysis services, and its early use of radio and satellite systems to transmit reports to its Midwestern consumers. DTN also operates The Progressive Farmer magazine. DTN was previously owned by Telvent and Schneider Electric, and since 2017 has been owned by Zürich based TBG.

In the early 1980s the Omaha based company Scoular Grain was a growing agribusiness led by Nebraska grain industry executive Marshall Faith. Faith, along with several other investors, had acquired what was then Scoular Bishop Grain Company in 1967 and expanded its operations from three grain elevators to dozens of locations in multiple states, and was beginning to branch out beyond grain warehousing. On 9 April 1984 the company created a new subsidiary incorporated under the name Scoular Information Services with the goal of improving communications with farmers. The project was led by Omaha native Roger Brodersen, Scoular's chief operating officer and the executive who supervised new project development and corporate acquisitions for the company. The subsidiary soon became known as Dataline. Dataline's chief product was an FM radio receiver unit that would pick up Dataline broadcasts transmitted via sideband signals. Farmers and agribusinesses would buy the receivers to get agricultural information and commodities updates. Dataline's customers preferred to lease the receivers rather than buy them, but Scoular was unwilling to finance the equipment, so Brodersen bought Dataline in 1986 and a year later took its stock public in order to raise the capital necessary to acquire the receivers and to develop other information products. Under the new model, subscribers would receive a radio signal receiver and a video terminal at no charge, and then pay a monthly subscription to receive 24 hour a day broadcasts of 20+ pages of market information, weather reports, and analysis. In late 1986, the monthly fees were $17.50 and the service was available in Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois. Public broadcasting station WILL TV in Champaign was one broadcaster that carried the Dataline signal. At the beginning of 1987 Dataline had 5,300 subscribers; that grew to 10,000 by May and 13,500 in ten states by October. In addition to being accessible on terrestrial FM carriers, Dataline was also broadcast from the Galaxy 1 communications satellite. Monthly fees were $19.50 for 65 videotext pages of market quotes, grain and livestock information, commentary, weather, and reports. In September, Dataline partnered with a subsidiary of ConAgra to add an "electronic catalog" feature to their information feed, allowing subscribers to browse farm supplies, equipment, and other products. On 17 September 1987 the company re incorporated and was renamed Data Transmission Network. By mid 1994 DTN had roughly 77,000 subscribers, about 60,000 of which were in the agricultural sector; the remainder were mostly in the finance and energy industries. Subscriptions in 1994 were $26 a month; satellite connection was an extra $7/month and a color monitor an extra $20/month. By 1997 it had 152,000 customers, 110,000 of which were in agriculture. Beginning in the mid 1990s DTN also grew its operations by acquiring other data and meteorology companies. In May 1996 it acquired its chief competitor FarmDayta (formerly Broadcast Partners) of Urbandale, Iowa for $73M, and adopted its 38,500 subscribers. The union of the three weather organizations became known as DTN/Meteorlogix. The company also worked in the '90s to expand into niche markets by offering more specialized service offerings.

In the late 1990s, DTN entered a period of financial uncertainty, in part due to increasing competition with new free information channels like CNBC, the Weather Channel, and websites run by Farm Journal and Pioneer. In response, DTN sought to expand its customer base by selling a broader array of services, including inventory tracking for auto dealers, coupon printing kiosks for grocery stores, fire alert information for forestry services, and other ventures. DTN gained 7,600 new subscribers but lost 4,500 from its core group of agricultural customers, and its stock fell 38% in 1999. resumed the search for a buyer. In April 2000, the New York City based private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson agreed to buy out DTN for $451M, including $91M in debt. DTN at the time had approximately 166,000 clients. Veronis implemented a new strategy by splitting DTN into four separate divisions: agriculture, energy, weather, and financial services. Robert Gordon, who would later become DTN CEO, was hired to run the weather division. Staffing up the four divisions proved slow and costly, and by 2003 sales were lower than in 1998. DTN emerged from bankruptcy six weeks later.

Robert Gordon became president in January and CEO in July 2004. He gradually reduced staff to 675, eliminated redundancies, and pushed a new strategy of selling proprietary data at a premium price. Customers paid larger subscription fees ($100 a month for many weather customers) to receive customized, hourly webcasts based on more precise computer models; ag customers paid roughly 50% more for analyses of issues like Asian soybean rust and avian influenza; and energy customers gained access to online exchanges with real time fuel prices. a company specializing in weather monitors for roads and airport runways, and integrated its customers and its network of 6000 surface sensors into its Meteorlogix division. In 2007 it acquired the majority of the Edmond, Oklahoma company WeatherBank, integrating its energy, transportation, public safety, and agriculture weather forecasting customers into Meteorlogix. In 2007, DTN also arranged with publisher Time Warner to acquire The Progressive Farmer, an agricultural magazine founded in 1886 and read at the time of acquisition by approximately 600,000 subscribers. The deal for an undisclosed sum supported Time Warner's strategy of shedding smaller publications to focus on its larger magazine properties and DTN's mission of providing agricultural information. DTN remained structured around four brands: DTN Ag, DTN Energy, DTN Market Access, and DTN Meteorlogix.

On 28 October 2008, Madrid based IT company Telvent acquired DTN in a $445M all cash deal. DTN at the time of the acquisition had about 700 employees, 700,000 subscribers, and annual revenues of approximately $180M, with about 90% of its sales derived from its subscription based services. After its acquisition the company became known as Telvent DTN. Telvent itself was purchased in 2011 by Schneider Electric, a large energy management company based in Rueil Malmaison, France. Schneider announced in early 2011 that it had reached a deal to acquire Telvent, and in August received regulatory approval to complete the €1.4B acquisition. Telvent DTN's revenue at the time of the acquisition was approximately $213 million. In June 2014 DTN acquired RevCo, a St. Louis based agricultural data management business.

DTN is one of the main suppliers of weather intelligence to the aviation industry. DTN's weather data and patented algorithms for EDR Turbulence, Icing and (Rapid Developing) Thunderstorms flow directly to airlines and airports or via one of DTN's many partners for Electronic Flight Bags(EFB) and Flight Planning. The data helps keeping crew and passengers safe in the air, especially around turbulence and thunderstorms events. DTN is delivering weather intelligence directly or indirectly to over 250 airlines worldwide. DTN has a large team of Aviation meteorologists in house who support Aviation customers with (risk)consulting and creating e. g. RAMTAFs.

Meteorological consulting for airlines, airports, helicopter operators, renewable energy companies, utilities, transportation, and sports. DTN AgHost, a service that creates branded websites for ag clients to better communicate with their customers.

DTN sells automated weather stations that can be set up at a member's location to collect local meteorological data, which DTN then uses to produce hyper local reports and forecasts. Roughly 5,500 stations operate from DTN member farms, part of the company's larger 22,500 station North American weather station network. DTN also has a Weather Systems group based in Spain and the Netherlands that installs airport weather systems.

Since 2007 DTN has owned and operated The Progressive Farmer, a monthly magazine founded in 1886 that focuses on how to operate a successful farm by covering subjects like marketing, management, crop and livestock production, and equipment. The magazine has a national circulation of about 500,000 and is based in Birmingham, Alabama.