AccuWeather Network

Not to be confused with AccuWeather Channel.
AccuWeather Network
Launched March 10, 2015
Owned by AccuWeather
Picture format 1080i (HDTV)
480i (SDTV)
Slogan All Weather, All the Time
Country  United States
Language English
Broadcast area Nationwide
(available in select markets)
Headquarters State College, Pennsylvania
Sister channel(s) AccuWeather Channel
Website www.accuweather.com
Availability
Cable
Verizon FiOS 119 (SD)
619 (HD)

The AccuWeather Network is an American cable television network that is owned by AccuWeather. The network broadcasts national and regional weather forecasts, analysis of ongoing weather events and weather-related news, along with local weather segments. The network's studio and master control facilities are based at AccuWeather's headquarters in State College, Pennsylvania.

History

AccuWeather – which for many years, had distributed its forecast content to participating broadcast television stations around the United States – launched its first 24-hour television venture in 2007, with the launch of The Local AccuWeather Channel (now AccuWeather Channel), a network distributed via the digital subchannels of various commercial (and in one case, non-commercial) stations, primarily featuring pre-recorded local, regional and national forecast segments.

On January 13, 2014, AccuWeather announced that it would launch a new national weather channel, tentatively named AccuWeather Channel, in the third quarter of that year.[1][2] The channel aimed to focus its programming on forecasts and other weather information, designed as an alternative to The Weather Channel, which since its purchase by NBCUniversal, Bain Capital and Blackstone Group in 2008, shifted towards a mix of forecasts and reality series with a tenuous or limited connection to weather.

Plans to form a competing network began to be developed by AccuWeather in 2013; however the company did not intend to publicly announce the launch until later the following year, with founder and president Dr. Joel N. Myers citing the decision to announce the launch earlier based on the limited "availability of quality forecasts on TV," and a then-ongoing carriage dispute between The Weather Channel and satellite provider DirecTV to make notice of the new service.[3][1] Barry Lee Myers, chief executive officer of AccuWeather, cited the company's decision to start the new channel as it had already offered "coverage in virtually every other medium" and because of its existing digital presence, created a channel that would have the "look and feel of a digital device."[4] AccuWeather Network was announced as a multi-platform service that would be streamed on the internet and mobile websites of AccuWeather and its affiliate partners (which did not occur upon its initial launch), in addition to cable and satellite distribution.[3] The channel's launch was eventually delayed until the channel was able to secure carriage on pay television providers.

The network was launched on March 10, 2015, with Verizon FiOS as the first provider to offer the new network; FiOS began carrying AccuWeather Network on channels 119 (in standard definition) and 619 (in high definition), after the provider's carriage agreement with The Weather Channel (which was replaced by AccuWeather Network in its respective channel slots) and its sister network Weatherscan (itself replaced on the provider by a widget featuring forecast content sourced from WeatherBug) expired without a renewal.[5][6][7] Ironically, Verizon's decision to replace The Weather Channel with AccuWeather Network was despite its claim that the former's removal was a long-term business decision based on the increasing consumer availability of weather information on digital media (via the internet and mobile devices), although the need for weather coverage without filler programming to pad periods when no significant weather was occurring was also cited.[6][8][9][10]

Programming

AccuWeather Network provides national, regional and local weather forecast segments as well as specialty forecasts and weather-related feature segments. Segments providing forecasts, meteorological analysis on weather conditions around the United States and severe weather information are presented by meteorologists employed with AccuWeather to provide forecasts for the company's website and the AccuWeather Channel broadcast service.

AccuWeather Network also displays continuous weather information on a "L"-shaped ticker placed at the lower and left-side thirds of the screen, which is visible even during commercial breaks. The left third of the ticker displays current weather conditions with sky condition and actual and RealFeel™ (or apparent) temperature displayed at all times; while the bottom two-thirds of that area cycle between additional observations (wind speed/direction, humidity, visibility and ultraviolet indexes) and six-hour forecasts for each city; descriptive 24-hour forecasts as well as five-day forecasts (showing the forecasted sky conditions and temperatures) for individual cities are shown at the bottom third of the screen (below a rundown bar containing segments and forecast locations).

Local forecasts

Currently, all Verizon FiOS customers are provided with the same feed that focuses on the cities where FiOS provides service. Accuweather intends to offer more localized coverage in the future.

The channel plans to offer "highly localized" weather information customized to focus on individual areas.[11] Similar to The Weather Channel and fellow competitor WeatherNation TV, AccuWeather Network will allocate twelve minutes of programming time per hour for localized weather segments for the service area of the television provider carrying the channel; the two-minute long segments run seven times an hour at times ending in "8" (for example, 6:55 p.m. or 9:35 a.m.), and will be shown after national segments carried by the network.

Local forecasts aired on AccuWeather Network (similar in format to The Weather Channel's Local on the 8s) are generated by a computer unit installed at the provider's headend, which inserts data over the channel's national feed. The localized segments provide current weather observations, and high and low temperatures observed since 12:00 a.m. local time for a given city; MinuteCast™ forecasts, incremental forecasts (pioneered by AccuWeather, Inc.[3]) for the next hour; at-a-glance forecasts for the current daypart and the day after; extended forecasts (which in addition to the traditional seven-day outlooks, includes 10-, 15-, 25-, 30- and 45-day forecasts, longer-term forecasts also pioneered by AccuWeather[3]); almanacs (showing temperature averages and extremes for the current date, and recorded precipitation for the past 24 hours, historical maximum precipitation for the date, and month-to-date and departure from average precipitation in the area); and computer models showing forecasted sky conditions and temperatures in the surrounding metropolitan area and region for the succeeding 24- to 36-hour period.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Mark Pynes; Anna Orso (January 15, 2014). "State College-based AccuWeather to launch 24/7 cable network to compete with The Weather Channel". The Patriot-News (Advance Publications). Retrieved March 22, 2015.
  2. ↑ "AccuWeather Announces the Launch of the AccuWeather Channel in Q3 2014". AccuWeather. January 16, 2014. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "New AccuWeather Channel will Deliver 'All Weather, All the Time'". AccuWeather. January 21, 2014. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
  4. ↑ Beatrice Verhoeven (March 13, 2015). "AccuWeather Launches Its First National Weather Channel". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
  5. ↑ Claire Suddath (March 11, 2015). "AccuWeather's New 24-Hour TV Channel Just Has the Weather". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Mackenzie Carpenter (March 10, 2015). "Verizon drops Weather Channel in favor of AccuWeather coverage". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
  7. ↑ "AccuWeather Launches 24/7 Network Featuring 'All Weather, All the Time' With Superior Accuracy". AccuWeather. March 17, 2015. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
  8. ↑ Yvonne Villarreal (March 11, 2015). "Verizon FiOS drops the Weather Channel". Los Angeles Times (Tribune Publishing). Retrieved March 22, 2015.
  9. ↑ Brian Stelter (March 10, 2015). "Verizon FiOS drops the Weather Channel". CNN Money. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
  10. ↑ Roger Yu (March 10, 2015). "Verizon FiOS drops Weather Channel over contract". USA Today (Gannett Company). Retrieved March 22, 2015.
  11. ↑ "AccuWeather Advantage". AccuWeather. Retrieved March 12, 2015.

External links