Weatherscan
Weatherscan was an American digital cable and satellite television network that offered uninterrupted local weather information. A spinoff of The Weather Channel, the automated service—which based its format on the local forecast segments that have been a mainstay of its parent network since TWC launched in May 1982—provided viewers with a continuous loop of current observations, and routine and specialized forecasts for their respective area in a graphical format; the segments were generated by a customized WeatherStar unit installed at the cable provider's headend.
Weatherscan—which was primarily intended for digital cable subscribers, although it was carried on basic cable tiers and, from 2011 to 2015, to subscribers of satellite provider Dish Network in selected markets—was originally launched as a national feed on July 28, 1998, under the ownership of Landmark Communications, and began operating as a localized service on March 31, 1999. The network and other TWC assets were sold to a consortium of NBCUniversal, and private equity firms Blackstone Group and Bain Capital in 2008, and later to Entertainment Studios in 2018; Weatherscan ceased operations on December 12, 2022, largely the result of declining national distribution over the previous decade.
History
Initial launch as a national feed
In March 1998, Landmark Communications announced plans to launch a spinoff of The Weather Channel that would provide customized weather forecasts to digital cable subscribers; Landmark signed an agreement with Tele-Communications, Inc. to distribute the service on the provider's Headend in the Sky digital cable multiplex service starting that summer. Weatherscan launched on participating TCI systems on July 28, 1998; as the Weather Star XL was still under development at the time, the channel initially operated as a national feed—similar in concept to the automated forecast segments intended for TWC's satellite viewers that aired during the network's local forecast slots—featuring current temperatures and 48-hour forecasts for seven designated regions and the contiguous United States, three-day "at a glance" forecasts for 35 major U.S. cities, and national and regional composite radar/satellite loops. After Weatherscan Local launched, the national feed remained available for distribution to some satellite providers and to smaller cable providers that could not afford a secondary and more technologically advanced Weatherscan STAR unit to run a localized feed of the service.Conversion to localized service
Weatherscan officially launched its localized offering on March 31, 1999, originally consisting of five distinct automated weather information services. The first to launch with the initial rollout were Weatherscan Local and Weatherscan Radar. The three remaining feeds launched over the course of a month later that spring: Weatherscan Plus debuted on April 30, 1999, followed by the launches of Weatherscan Plus Traffic and Weatherscan Español on May 31.In May 2000, Weatherscan Local folded its various services into one singular feed, based around the customized segment concept behind the Weatherscan Plus service; the specialty products featured on Weatherscan Plus and Weatherscan Español would instead be offered to cable affiiates as optional packages to provide viewers with more comprehensive weather information, while Weatherscan units also received themed backgrounds based on the regional culture. The XL and IntelliStar units developed for Weatherscan were configured differently from The Weather Channel's domestic units, operating on custom software to generate content for the Weatherscan service, which features different graphics schemes, and the capability to incorporate additional forecast products and display weather information on a continuous basis.
In August 2000, Landmark reached carriage deals with Comcast to offer Weatherscan Local on its digital tier in selected markets. Distribution of the network expanded further in February 2001 through deals with TCI successor AT&T Broadband and Cox Communications. In December 2001, Weatherscan Local began expanding its distribution to additional Comcast markets and entered into a carriage deal with Charter Communications; by the end of that year, Weatherscan was available to an estimated 3.3 million cable subscribers. In 2003, Landmark began replacing the proprietary Weatherscan XL units with the newer sixth-generation STAR model, the IntelliStar, which debuted on the network on February 28.
On July 7, 2008, Landmark announced it would sell The Weather Channel, Weatherscan and related assets to a consortium of NBC Universal and private equity firms Blackstone Group and Bain Capital—later incorporated as The Weather Company—for $3.5 billion.
On June 29, 2011, Dish Network became the first satellite provider to offer Weatherscan on their lineup, filling the channel slot previously occupied by the short-lived network The Weather Cast, which was created to replace The Weather Channel on its lineup during a May 2010 carriage dispute with the satellite provider; the DIsh Weatherscan feed, which was formatted similarly to the cable version, provided regionalized weather information for cities within of a given metropolitan area..
Decline and shutdown
At its height, Weatherscan was available in many major U.S. markets, though its national distribution was never as widespread as that of parent network The Weather Channel. Many cable providers offered Weatherscan on their digital tiers, although a few carried the network alongside TWC on their basic service, often giving them non-adjacent channel assignments.Verizon FiOS dropped Weatherscan and The Weather Channel from its lineup on March 10, 2015, after the two parties were unable to come to terms on a new carriage agreement and coinciding with a separate carriage agreement that brought AccuWeather Network to its systems. Verizon representatives cited the main driver of letting the agreement lapse being that many of its customers received weather information on the internet and mobile apps; FiOS replaced Weatherscan with WeatherBug's set-top "widget" in some of its markets. This was followed on June 24 by Dish Network's removal of the regionalized Weatherscan feed in selected markets in favor of TWC competitor WeatherNation. Comcast began removing Weatherscan from its cable systems in October 2017, with its remaining markets having dropped the network by December 10 of that year.
On March 22, 2018, Entertainment Studios announced it would acquire The Weather Channel's television assets from The Weather Company. The actual value was not disclosed, but was reported to be around $300 million; the channel's non-television assets, which were separately sold to IBM two years prior, were not included in the sale.
The successor parents of The Weather Channel's assets had done little to upgrade Weatherscan after the network's September 2005 graphical update, even as TWC began upgrading its domestic STAR units to the second-generation IntelliStar fleet starting with the rollout of the original IntelliStar 2 units in July 2010; however, the network continued to be offered to cable providers for several years afterward. While the domestic first-generation IntelliStars were decommissioned on November 16, 2015, and replaced by newer IntelliStar 2 models, Weatherscan continued to run on its original proprietary IntelliStar units until the service's shutdown. Additionally, because technical constraints with the early-2000s-era IntelliStar technology in use made upgrades to the format infeasible, Weatherscan was never presented in high definition, unlike most American television news and weather services operating by the time of the network's shutdown. Many of these remaining first-generation IntelliStars were starting to experience the effects of slowly failing capacitors, as their motherboards were manufactured during the capacitor plague era of the early 2000s, and most of these proprietary Weatherscan models were not expected to remain sustainably functional within the next few years. Addressing issues with these aging units ultimately became impractical as Weather Group Television technicians stopped providing technical support or replacement units for the network's cable affiliates as early as 2021.
In a September 2022 letter to the National Content & Technology Cooperative, of which most of the network's remaining cable affiliates were members, Weather Group Television announced its intention to discontinue Weatherscan in the service's remaining markets no later than December 9, 2022, with a preference to cease offering it sooner rather than later. The company cited declining viewership, the wide availability of local weather information online and on mobile apps, and the aging first-generation IntelliStar equipment as the main reasons for its decision to discontinue the service, which were also cited as what ultimately led to larger pay television providers deciding to drop the channel, limiting carriage of Weatherscan to small to mid-size cable affiliates from December 2017 onward. The remaining providers with operating Weatherscan IntelliStar units exercised their options to either offer in-house local weather services, switch to similar national networks like AccuWeather Network, WeatherNation and Fox Weather; or eliminate the channel space entirely. Weatherscan was officially discontinued on December 12, 2022, three days after the original end-of-service date, when the last unit was believed to be decommissioned on that day.
In light of Weatherscan's closure, many fan-based spiritual successors take its place. Attempts to simulate the design of Weatherscan by hobbyists date as far back as 2003. For Weatherscan's most recognizable design that lasted until its shutdown, real-time projects date as early as 2018, kickstarted by a program based mostly off of JavaScript. Multiple contributions to said program were made over time, bringing way to newer projects that are currently accessible and maintained, along with open archival efforts of the original software. In addition, individuals in possession of the original hardware have gathered the necessary resources to revitalize the Weatherscan software, often being exhibited at Vintage Computer Festival events.
Programming and content
Weatherscan primarily relied on information sourced from the National Weather Service and The Weather Channel; Weatherscan relied on products issued by local NWS Weather Forecast Offices for its forecast products until November 2001, when TWC began disseminating forecast products developed in-house to the former's cable affiliates, less than a year before their rollout to the parent network's "domestic" WeatherStar units. Traffic information was initially presented through the Weatherscan Traffic feed from March 1999 to May 2000; traffic products were restored on the main Weatherscan service in July 2005 through a content agreement between TWC and TrafficPulse that ran until December 2010.The WeatherStar XL and IntelliStar units developed for use by Weatherscan utilized a different configuration than the domestic units utilized by The Weather Channel, featuring different graphics sets and additional weather products as well as being programmed to continuously provide weather information 24 hours a day. Each forecast loop began with an introductory screen providing the network and cable provider identification, and the name of the assigned forecast city, leading into the playlist. As with The Weather Channel's domestic STAR fleet, Weatherscan's XL and IntelliStar units were able to display a crawl detailing watches, warnings and advisories issued by the NWS and the Storm Prediction Center for the local area where the unit's headend is based.
Certain segments were introduced utilizing TWC's proprietary Vocal Local narration feature introduced with the WeatherStar XL fleet; these narrations were voiced by TWC staff announcer Amy Bargeron until they were removed from most routine segments on November 10, 2015.
Although Weatherscan, unlike The Weather Channel, did not employ any on-air talent, the service's Weatherscan XL and IntelliStar units optionally had the capability to provide audio forecasts presented by a Weather Channel meteorologist. Local advertising on Weatherscan was primarily limited to the text-based Local Ad Sales crawls that have been a mainstay of The Weather Channel's forecast segments since its inception as well as sponsorship tags; however, affiliates had the option of running one-minute-long conventional video ad breaks in the form of the channel's forecast/datascreen-based 'Local Avails' segment with 24-hour and five-day at-a-glance weather forecasts in horizonal form and its local radar on the right corner over a small squeezed-back video window on the left for advertised businesses under the current conditions on the near bottom-left, unlike TWC, every ten minutes starting at ten minutes past the hour. In the event that the STAR unit experienced errors generating the playlist, the main Weather Channel feed aired in place of Weatherscan's regular programming until the unit began rebooting.
When the localized version of the channel launched in March 1999, utilizing WeatherStar XL units to generate the forecast segments, Weatherscan originally utilized a similar product and graphical layout and Lower Display Line as that seen on the domestic XL units; the main Weatherscan Local feed's programming consisted of the same products featured in the two-minute product "flavor" lineup offered at the time on The Weather Channel's local forecast segments.
In May 2000, coinciding with the network receiving a new distinctive graphics set, Weatherscan Local restructured its segments to be built around customizable specialty weather packages that featured graphical and map-based forecasts centering on various lifestyle activities available to cable affiliates. The primary segment lineup was rechristened as the "Core Package", accompanied by three new optional routine forecast packages: the "Mini-Core Package", the "Extra Local Area Package" and the "Spanish Forecast Package" ; routine forecast segments came in both one- and two-minute lengths. In addition, the LDL's observation summary feature was concurrently removed, although local ad crawls were retained. Cable affiliates had the ability to select up to five specialty packages to be displayed along with the default "Core Package" and any additional routine local product packages. The number of product packages were pared down and rudimentary observation summaries were restored in the form of an Upper Display Line in February 2003, as part of a graphical revamp coinciding with the introduction of the original Weatherscan IntelliStar units.
On September 27, 2005, the Upper and Lower Display Lines were replaced by a multi-panel "L-bar" datascreen, confining the main panel to a smaller but prominent window at the upper middle of the screen.
Routine products
WS Indicates product is featured on all Weatherscan-customized STAR systems.XL Indicates product is featured on Weatherscan-customized WeatherStar XL systems.IS Indicates product is featured on Weatherscan-customized IntelliStar systems.† Indicates product originated on The Weather Channel's domestic STAR units.| Segment | Package included | Years active | Description |
| Current Conditions WS, † | Core, Mini-Core, Extra Local Area, Spanish | 1999–2022 | Detailed summary of current weather observations for the local area, consisting of sky condition; actual and apparent temperature, and other pertinent data ; barometric pressure; humidity; cloud ceiling and visibility ). |
| Local Observations WS, † | Core, Mini-Core, Extra Local Area, Spanish | 1999–2022 | Text- and icon-based summary outlining current temperatures, weather conditions, and wind speed/direction at up to eight nearby locations near—or sometimes, including—the primary observation site. Unlike the domestic IntelliStar iteration, the WeatherScan IntelliStar units did not receive a map-based version of this product. |
| Regional Conditions WS, † | Core | 1999–2000 | Map-based summary of current temperature and sky conditions for seven to ten regional cities within a radius of the STAR's headend location. |
| 36-Hour/48-Hour Text Forecast WS, † | Core, Mini-Core, Extra Local Area | 1999–2022 | Multi-page text product describing the forecasted weather conditions, temperature, wind and, when applicable, precipitation probabilities and amounts for each corresponding period over the next 48 hours ; the segment was updated usually around 3:00 a.m. or 3:00 p.m., with intermediate updates occurring when applicable. The forecasts were sourced from the National Weather Service's local Zone Forecast Products until November 2001, and by The Weather Channel thereafter, allowing for more specific temperature and wind speed values and custom references to hazardous weather conditions. Unlike the domestic IntelliStar units, the descriptive forecasts never received a graphical or icon-based illustration of the expected sky condition. |
| Daypart Forecast IS | Mini-Core, Extra Local Area | 2003–2022 | Outlined the forecasted weather conditions, temperatures, and wind speed/direction over a 12-hour period; the product was updated at the first hour specified in the graph. |
| Extended Forecast WS, † | Core, Mini-Core, Extra Local Area, Spanish | 1999–2022 | Originally provided forecasts for the three-day period starting the day after the conclusion of the 36-hour period covered by the descriptive forecast ; beginning in March 2000 on the WeatherStar XL, the extended forecast timeline was increased to five days. |
| Almanac WS, † | Core, Mini-Core, Spanish | 1999–2022 | Originally formatted as an astronomical almanac derived from the domestic STAR iteration, the product was revised in February 2003 to incorporate temperature averages and records for the current date for the nearest reporting site. |
| Local Doppler Radar WS, † | Core, Mini-Core, Extra Local Area | 1999–2022 | A continuous loop of National Weather Service NEXRAD radar imagery compiled over the course of three hours, covering a radius of the STAR's headend location. Coinciding with the feature's addition to domestic IntelliStar units, the product's color table was revised on January 23, 2007, to detect different precipitation types among the radar returns. Normally running 20 seconds within the Core and Mini-Core packages, a separate one-minute standalone radar segment was added in July 2005. |
| Radar/Satellite IS | Core, Mini-Core | 2003–2022 | A regional composite of visible satellite and radar data, showing the movement of weather systems and precipitation over a five-hour period; this product often alternated with the Local Doppler Radar during the Core and Mini-Core playlists. |
| Regional Doppler XL | Core | 2000–2003 | A 20-second continuous regional loop of National Weather Service NEXRAD composite radar imagery over a five-hour period. |
| Regional Satellite XL | Core | 2000–2003 | A 20-second continuous loop of geocolor visible satellite imagery, showing the movement of weather systems within the region over a ten-hour period. |
| Weather Bulletins WS | Core, Mini-Core, Extra Local Area, Spanish | 2002–2022 | Introduced in April 2002 on the WeatherStar XL, this product featured a summary of National Weather Service-issued watches, warnings and/or advisories in effect for the local area, listed by alert type and time/date of expiration. |
| Severe Weather Update WS | Specialty | 2000–2022 | An emergency playlist, which began at the next playlist cycle following the issuance of a warning affecting the area and ran until the warning expired, during which most regular segments were suspended. The severe playlist—primarily utilizing a distinct gray and red graphics scheme from 2003 to 2022—began with a special "Severe Weather Message" introductory screen, accompanied by either of the following playlists:Standard severe playlist, primarily features a rotating loop of the Core and Mini-Core product packages :
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