The Weather Channel facts for kids

Country	United States
Broadcast area	United States (including Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands) and The Bahamas
Headquarters	Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Quick facts for kids Programming
Language(s)	English and Spanish
Picture format	1080i (HDTV) 480i (SDTV; letterboxed with weather information)
Ownership
Owner	Allen Media Group
Parent	Weather Group Television, LLC
Sister channels	Weatherscan Local Now Entertainment Studios Networks Justice Central
History
Launched	May 2, 1982; 43 years ago (1982-05-02)
Availability
Streaming media
Official service	(requires subscription or trial to access content)
Service(s)	Frndly TV, FuboTV, YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV
NewsLive	Watch live stream (free)

The Weather Channel (TWC) is an American TV channel. It focuses on weather forecasts and weather news. The channel also shows documentaries and fun shows about weather. It is owned by Weather Group, LLC, which is part of Allen Media Group. The main office is in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Weather Channel started on May 2, 1982. It also used to have a sister channel called Weatherscan. Weatherscan showed local forecasts and radar all day. It closed down on December 12, 2022. The Weather Channel also helps create weather reports for other news groups like CBS News.

In August 2023, a company called Francisco Partners bought The Weather Company from IBM. The Weather Company includes the channel's websites and apps.

History of The Weather Channel

The Weather Channel was started by TV weather expert John Coleman. He worked with Frank Batten, who led Landmark Communications. The channel began broadcasting on May 2, 1982. At first, local weather info came from the National Weather Service. Since 2002, all forecasts are made at their Atlanta office.

New Owners: NBCUniversal, Bain, and Blackstone

On January 3, 2008, Landmark Communications decided to sell the Weather Channel. On July 6, 2008, NBC Universal, Bain Capital, and Blackstone Group bought it together. This was the first time the channel changed owners in 26 years. The sale was completed on September 12, 2008.

NBC Universal also owned NBC Weather Plus, a similar weather service. NBC Weather Plus closed down a few months later. Some TV channels that showed Weather Plus then switched to other networks.

From late 2008 to early 2009, the Weather Channel made some changes. Several long-time weather presenters left the channel. Some had worked there for over ten or even twenty years.

In July 2010, Bill Keneely, one of the first weather presenters from 1982, also left. Later, in May 2009, some weather presenters from NBC joined the Weather Channel. For example, Al Roker from NBC's Today started hosting a morning show called Wake Up With Al. On September 10, 2009, Frank Batten, who helped start the Weather Channel, passed away.

Changes from 2012 to 2018

In January 2012, David Kenny became the new CEO of the Weather Channel. He took over from Mike Kelly. The company's main operations are in Atlanta. However, Kenny chose to work remotely from Boston.

Later in 2012, the company that owned the Weather Channel changed its name. It became The Weather Company. That same year, they also bought another weather website, Weather Underground. On March 10, 2015, Verizon FiOS stopped carrying the Weather Channel. They chose to show their rival, AccuWeather, instead.

On September 9, 2015, the channel announced big changes for 2016. They decided to focus more on weather forecasts again. They canceled Wake Up with Al because it cost too much to make in New York City. Their show AMHQ would now focus only on weather, without lifestyle parts. Stephanie Abrams became the host, and Sam Champion became a contributor.

The network also said it would stop making new long-form shows. They would show more live weather forecasts throughout 2016. The CEO, David Kenny, explained that fans come to them for weather and science, not for other shows. About 50 employees were let go. The TV channel's budget was cut to put more money into their internet and mobile apps.

The Weather Channel used to be like a news channel. But since 2000, with shows like Atmospheres and Storm Stories, it started showing more entertainment shows about weather. This happened as Weatherscan launched and their website weather.com grew.

In November 2013, the channel started a "weather all the time" plan. All their original shows, called Natural Drama, were now directly about weather. They promised to interrupt shows for major weather events. Also, the weather information bar at the bottom of the screen stayed on during commercials and original shows.

In August 2015, there were talks about selling parts of the Weather Company. On October 28, 2015, IBM announced it would buy most of the Weather Company's assets. This included weather.com, Weather Underground, and their apps. IBM wanted to use its Watson technology for weather analysis. The deal closed in January 2016. The Weather Channel TV channel itself was not part of this sale. It stayed with the Bain/Blackstone/NBCUniversal group. The channel made a deal with IBM to use its weather data and the "Weather Channel" name.

Sale to Entertainment Studios

In August 2016, Sinclair Broadcast Group showed interest in buying the Weather Channel.

On March 22, 2018, Byron Allen's Entertainment Studios bought the Weather Channel's TV parts. The price was not officially shared but was reported to be around $300 million. The parts of the Weather Company that IBM bought two years earlier were not included in this sale.

On April 18, 2019, the Weather Channel had a problem with its live shows. They said it was a "malicious software attack." They showed old programs while engineers fixed the issue. Live programming returned to normal in a few hours. The people who caused the attack were never found.

In May 2022, on its 40th birthday, the Weather Channel launched a new app. You can subscribe to it directly.

In August 2023, IBM announced it would sell its weather unit and the Weather Channel's apps to Francisco Partners. IBM will keep the weather data to help its artificial intelligence models for clients like NASA.

International Versions of TWC

Over the years, there have been attempts to broadcast the Weather Channel in other countries. Most of these, except for the Australian version (now Sky News Weather Channel), did not last. TWC has websites that give local forecasts in places like Brazil, France, Germany, India, Latin America, and the United Kingdom. The Weather Channel also shares radar and forecasts with the Weather Network in Canada.

• A UK version of the Weather Channel ran from September 1, 1996, to January 30, 1998. It closed because not enough people watched it.
• TWC used to run the Weather Channel Latin America. This was a Spanish-language channel for Mexico, Puerto Rico, and South America. It started in 1996. A Portuguese version for Brazil started in 1998. Both closed on December 20, 2002, due to money problems.

Local on the 8s

The "Local on the 8s" is a popular segment on the Weather Channel. It shows local weather forecasts and radar. This segment updates every 10 minutes, starting at 8 minutes past the hour. It uses special computer systems to create the local weather information for each area.

Related Services from The Weather Channel

Television Services

Radio and Newspaper Presence

The Weather Channel provides forecasts for satellite radio like Sirius XM Radio in the United States. They offer regional forecasts and local weather and traffic for big cities.

The Weather Channel also broadcasts on SiriusXM during big storms. Here are some of the storms they covered:

• 2016: Hurricane Matthew
• 2017: March 2017 North American blizzard, Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma
• 2018: Hurricane Florence, Hurricane Michael
• 2019: Hurricane Dorian
• 2020: Hurricane Isaias, Hurricane Laura, Hurricane Sally, Hurricane Delta, Hurricane Zeta
• 2021: Hurricane Ida

TWC also works with local U.S. radio stations. They provide local forecasts using different announcers. For some stations, the Weather Channel gives live updates during bad weather. Westwood One helps share TWC radio content.

The Weather Channel also gives weather reports to many newspapers. They used to provide a national forecast for USA Today. But in September 2012, AccuWeather took over this role.

Recent Partnerships

On March 28, 2022, TWC announced a partnership with CBS News. They now provide weather reports for CBS shows like CBS Mornings. They also work together on news about weather and climate.

On May 2, 2022, The Weather Channel en Español launched on Local Now. This was on TWC's 40th birthday. TWC en Español provides 24/7 weather coverage in Spanish.

Online Services

TWC offers many special forecasts on its website, weather.com. This includes forecasts for home and garden or planning events. Weather.com is one of the most visited weather websites in the world. It gets over 126 million visitors each month.

You could also get weather updates on mobile phones using WAP. There were also desktop tools for computers. You could even get local forecasts sent to your phone by text message. The Weather Channel also provided forecasts for other online services like Yahoo!.

The Weather Channel has apps for iPhone, iPad, Android, Apple TV, and other devices. These apps show weather forecasts, radar maps, and storm updates. They also let users share weather alerts with friends on Facebook. The channel also shares weather info and photos on its Twitter page (@TWCBreaking).

In July 2012, the Weather Company bought the weather website Weather Underground. The Weather Channel wanted to use Weather Underground's large network to grow its digital services. Weather Underground still works separately but shares some news and videos from TWC.

The website weather.com and most of the Weather Channel's digital parts were sold to IBM in January 2016. The Weather Channel TV channel used to have its own website, weloveweather.tv, but it closed in 2023. You can find company information on weathergroup.com.

Programming on The Weather Channel

Before 2000, the Weather Channel mostly showed weather forecasts. They had a few educational shows like The Weather Classroom. Over time, they started adding more weather-related entertainment shows.

The channel's live studio shows are on from 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM Eastern Time on weekdays. On weekends and holidays, they are on from 6:00 AM to 1:00 PM Eastern Time.

• America's Morning Headquarters airs weekdays from 6:00 AM to noon Eastern.
• Pattrn airs from noon to 1:00 PM Eastern.
• Weather Underground airs from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM Eastern.
• Storm Center airs from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM Eastern.
• On weekends, America's Weekend Headquarters airs from 6:00 AM to 9:00 AM.
• Weekend Recharge airs from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM.

The Weather Channel also shows original documentaries and specials about weather. These shows fill the rest of the schedule. During big weather events, the Weather Channel might stop its regular shows. They will instead show extended coverage called Weather Center Live. This provides long reports and analysis until the event is over. Sometimes, the on-screen graphics will change to black and red colors. TWC often uses a special music theme called "Storm Alert Mode" for these events.

Movies on TWC

In 2009, the Weather Channel started showing weather-related movies on Friday nights. Many long-time viewers did not like this change. The first movie they showed was The Perfect Storm in October 2009.

After December 2009, they stopped showing movies for a while. They brought them back in March 2010 under the name "Flick and a Forecast." During the movies, the local weather information bar was removed. It only appeared a few times each hour instead of the usual "Local on the 8s" segments.

Some movies they showed, like Misery, had very little to do with weather. In May 2010, the Weather Channel decided to stop the movie block. This was partly because viewers complained. Also, during a tornado outbreak in April 2010, a movie was shown instead of full weather coverage. After this, the movie block was replaced with more weather news and original shows.

Notable Weather Channel Personalities

Reporters

• Justin Michaels: National Correspondent
• Mike Seidel: On-Camera Meteorologist, Field Meteorologist (1992–2024)

Former Personalities

• John Coleman: Founder of the Weather Channel; passed away
• John Hope: Meteorologist/hurricane expert 1982–2002; passed away
• Betty Davis: 2005–2010
• Vivian Brown: 1989-2015
• Jeanetta Jones: 1986–2006; passed away
• Crystal Egger: 2010–2013
• Al Roker: 2009–2015; now on Today
• Dave Schwartz: 1991–2008, 2014–2016; passed away
• Sam Champion: 2014–2016
• Bob Stokes: 1996-2008
• Anaridis Rodriguez: 2014–2017
• Maria LaRosa: Weekend Recharge (2010–2018)
• Bryan Norcross: 2010-2018, senior hurricane expert
• Greg Forbes: 1999–2018
• Tom Niziol: 2012–2019, winter weather expert
• Rich Johnson: 1983-1987, 1987–2009, 2016-2018
• Jennifer Lopez: 2000–2008
• Dave Malkoff: Field / Feature reporter (2012–2023)
• Alexandria Steele: 2003–2010
• Kait Parker: 2014-2016

Branding and Logos

Logos of The Weather Channel

The Weather Channel's first logo was a blue rectangle with rounded corners. It appeared on May 2, 1982. This logo was updated in 1996, making the corners less round. In 1999, the text weather.com was added below the logo. On August 15, 2005, the logo changed again. It became a straight-edged square with no white border. The words "The Weather Channel" were moved to the left side.

When NBCUniversal bought the network in 2008, the channel joined the "Green is Universal" campaign. This happens twice a year. The network's logo turns green to promote caring for the environment. Since 2014, the network uses a red logo during hurricane coverage. The red logo also appears during severe tornado outbreaks.

Slogans of The Weather Channel

• 1982–1983: We Take the Weather Seriously, but Not Ourselves
• 1983–1984: The Cable Television Network for America's Lifestyle
• 1984–1986: Weatherproofing America
• 1986–1991: You Need Us, the Weather Channel, for Everything You Do
• 1991–1996: Weather You Can Always Turn To
• 1996–1998: No Place on Earth Has Better Weather
• 1998–2001: Keeping You Ahead of the Storm
• 2001–2005: Live by It
• 2005–2008: Bringing Weather to Life
• June 2008–late 2008: The Weather Has Never Looked Better
• 2009–early 2010: The Sounds of Weather. Hear It, See It, Live It
• 2013–2020: It's Amazing Out There
• 2015–2016: Where You Get Your Weather Matters
• 2017–2018: Trust in Us to Be There
• late 2018-early 2019: America's #1 Weather Network
• 2019–present: America's Most Trusted TV News Network (current promotional campaign)
• 2020–2024: Get Into the Out There
• 2024-present: Be a force of nature

See also

In Spanish: The Weather Channel para niños

• Weather media in the United States
• The Weather Network – A Canadian TV channel about weather forecasts.
• WeatherStar – Special computers used by cable TV providers to show weather data.
• The Weather Company – The company that used to own the Weather Channel.
• The Weather Channel Presents: The Best of Smooth Jazz - The first jazz album released by the channel.
• NBC Weather Plus
• Fox Weather