Messages

121

TWC and your Cable Company / Re: DirecTV Dropping TWC

« on: January 13, 2014, 04:57:01 PM »

Wasn't TWC live all the way from Opening Day? I don't know as I wasn't alive.

Yes they were, (I already saw the video from YouTube last year). It's possible that they might of still had some pre-recorded broadcasts back during TWC's early years. I know that they used to do pre-recorded broadcasts back in the late '80s that proceeded after the "O"/"N" flavored LFs. Yet, I wasn't even born yet in 1982 when they first went on the air.

122

TWC and your Cable Company / Re: DirecTV Dropping TWC

« on: January 13, 2014, 04:25:04 PM »

I wasn't sure where to put this...so I'll put it here.

This makes me downright mad and honestly made me lose any respect I had for TWC.

That is the least classy response I have ever seen from a network. But hey, it takes one to know one, in regards to trashing others. Soo....

When they mentioned WN being taped with low-budget production values and claiming that they don't have experts, wasn't TWC like this 31 years ago?

123

TWC and your Cable Company / Re: DirecTV Dropping TWC

« on: January 12, 2014, 02:51:21 PM »

TWC is live all day so they can continue complain that DTV might drop them on 13th.
It's not even 12am Monday that TWC would be dropped it's 12am on Tuesaday so this is clearly a planned stunt to combat the complaints about TWC airing non weather reality shows 2pm-4am on weekends.

If TWC really cares about it's audience the 5pm 7pm and 1am editions of WCL would return to the schedule next weekend.

I'm sure TWC's live coverage campaign just to prove DirecTV how "important" they are is still going to lose out in the ratings to the NFL playoff coverage on both Fox and CBS. Right now, I'm not even watching TWC anyway because of football. 

124

TWC and your Cable Company / Re: DirecTV Dropping TWC

« on: January 12, 2014, 02:39:23 PM »

It just shows that at least someone is listening to customers here, and it isn't TWC.  DTV is saying what we've been saying for a while now when they mention the large amount of longform.  Customers got nowhere by complaining to TWC, so they must have gone to DTV instead.

the countdown clock on the top right

You mean a Disney Channel-style countdown clock like they use for premieres? Lol. 

Ironically, Cartoon Network does this too for all of their own premieres. Those countdown bugs had always annoyed me and so are those network pop-ups during certain programs before the commercial breaks.

125

TWC and your Cable Company / Re: DirecTV Dropping TWC

« on: January 12, 2014, 12:48:24 AM »

Regarding to the possible TWC dispute on DirecTV, I found this on DirecTV Promise page:

The Weather Channel has begun alarming DIRECTV customers unnecessarily about its potentially leaving the DIRECTV line-up as soon as Monday. Here’s what DIRECTV has to say about the campaign:

We remain in discussions with The Weather Channel on how to provide its service to our customers at the best value since people now use so many other ways to retrieve weather-related information. We launched WeatherNation (DIRECTV channel 361) as an alternative to provide 24/7 hard news weather coverage in response to numerous customer complaints that more than 40 percent of The Weather Channel’s programming is dedicated to reality television shows. DIRECTV also offers city-by-city weather coverage on more than 1,400 local broadcast stations and on DIRECTV’s emergency channels in times of severe weather.

Also, it appears that most DirecTV customers want it to be dropped permanently like what happened with G4 back in 2010. Here's the reactions:

@weatherchannel programing for Saturday Highway Thru Hell,Heavy Metal Monsters, Prospectors,etc ..where's the weather? I stand with #Directv

— Angel C (@alc965) January 11, 2014

@davidwkenny Maybe make it about weather and not terrible shows, marketing gimmicks or over the top personalities? No more wethertainment

— Tommy D (@TommyD0527) January 11, 2014

Weather Channel is saying viewers know the cost of DirectTV dropping then by posting storm damage pics. That's some mafia like negotiation

— Duke Williams (@Dastardly_Duke) January 11, 2014

Weather Channel whines if DirecTV drops them, people will miss "life-saving information"! "Ice Road Truckers" & "Prospectors" save lives?

— Judianna (@JUDIANNA) January 11, 2014

@weatherchannel you mean I can't get weather from my phone? Or local news? Or computer? Or by going outside and checking? Crazy…

— Lovie Time In Tampa! (@pewterpirate83) January 11, 2014

For you DirecTV customers, don't listen to The Weather Channel, just watch @WeatherNation for more accurate & unbiased weather information.

— Mark Spencer (@ohioweather) January 11, 2014

Source: http://directvpromise.com/disputes/weather-channel/

I also found an interesting story from the Salt Lake Tribune about the possible dispute:
http://m.sltrib.com/sltrib/mobile3/57382158-219/weather-channel-directv-public.html.csp

Honestly, I hope DirecTV permanently drops TWC like what they already did to G4. Recently, even other major cable providers (including Dish) had already dropped G4. I hope DirecTV wins this battle. As a long-time TWC viewer since the early '90s, I haven't watched TWC regularly like I used to ever since when they changed the logo back in 2005 and also after when NBC bought them out in 2008. I hate to say this (even on these TWC fan forums like this) I want TWC to crash and burn like what has already happened to G4. I'm so glad we already switched from Comca$t to DirecTV a few years ago. It's Comca$t's fault after all.

126

TWC and your Cable Company / Re: DirecTV Dropping TWC

« on: December 27, 2013, 08:46:38 PM »

I saw this on another forum -- if DirecTV were to drop TWC, they'd also lose other NBCUniversal cable networks and maybe NBC and Telemundo O&Os as well. That would end in millions of DTV subscribers pulling the plug.

As long if DirecTV were to only renew the other NBC-Comcast owned & operated stations that doesn't include TWC. DirecTV did so with the Viacom dispute back in July 2012. What happened in that dispute was that Viacom wanted DirecTV to offer their premium channel Epix, but DirecTV wasn't interested (likely because of ratings?). That's what led up to that 10 day dispute. Eventually, Viacom gave DirecTV a new offer that doesn't include Epix. So why not NBC? NBC should let providers to decide to let them drop TWC without losing all of their other owned & operated stations (such as MSNBC, CNBC, NBCSN, Bravo, Oxygen, USA, etc.)

Either way, I hope DirecTV doesn't drop WeatherNation if they were to get a new deal for TWC. I love this newly added station. That's what happened with Dish back in 2010 that led up to the shut-down of WeatherNation's predecessor, The Weather Cast.

As for my local NBC affiliate, at least it's not owned and operated by the network. But, my local NBC affiliate on the other hand dropped their AccuWeather digital sub-channel recently. I still want to see a weather competition.

127

Everything Else TWC / Re: General TWC Discussion

« on: December 14, 2013, 09:53:28 PM »

Does anyone know if TWC has used the alternate feed to provide regional storm coverage?
I'm glad the extended live all day storm coverage is national.

Doesn't the IntelliStar/IntelliStar 2 already have a dual feed for severe weather?

128

Local Forecast / Re: General LF Discussion

« on: October 17, 2013, 06:59:06 PM »

Those are pretty simple icons. Know the horse has been beaten to death relentlessly in the past, but the XL icons were the perfect blend of simplicity and attractiveness. But as long as the message gets across, that's all most viewers care about. I wonder how the music will be affected by the changes?

I agree that the old XL icons showed more detail. I don't mind the icons that the IntelliStar/IntelliStar 2 currently use; I just think the XL ones looked a lot better. I also miss those 4000-style icons that TWC had back in the '90s whenever they would show their regional forecasts on their national segments. Ironically, the new weather.com icons kind of remind me of the graphics that Microsoft uses in their commercials as well Windows 8.    I did some searching on their server, and it seems like they only have 47 icons (some of them are even duplicates of the same icons).

I don't think anyone knows yet?  However on TWC's community feedback page "Weather All the Time" the smooth Jazz post has I think 16 likes 0 dislikes, and All Instrumental's no vocals 26 likes and 5 dislikes. However the post to bring back 2 minute forecasts has about 28 likes and 1 dislike. So the requests for all instrumental music and possibly smooth jazz and 2 minute forecasts are about tied. This is as of Yesterday around 4pm. So let's see what TWC does. Maybe they ignored the request for smooth jazz because they were busy with the relaunch coming up? So I think we have a lot of a better chance of getting are music back since this is all they really are focusing on right now.

As for bringing the two minute LFs back, I too would also agree. Especially on legacy STARs, because that it would show additional features. Even the IntelliStar/IntelliStar 2 would also show more features too. I just don't like how TWC is "dumbing down" their LFs. I also think the vocal music is annoying for the most part. They should bring back the smooth jazz and most of the non-vocal instrumentals back. Playing mainstream music just doesn't fit well with TWC. It's no wonder why I have been collecting classic TWC music.

129

Everything Else TWC / Re: General TWC Discussion

« on: October 06, 2013, 03:56:19 PM »

While channel surfing, I noticed Comcast has programming from 5am-5pm labeled as "Tropical Storm Karen Coverage". I doubt they'll stay on that long now that Karen ceases to exist.

EDIT: Actually they have the block labeled as such until 2am.

Whenever there's either a hurricane or tropical storm, TWC usually updates the program guides whenever necessary and labels the program guide as "Hurricane/Tropical Storm _________ Coverage" as the storm occurs. I recall seeing "Hurricane Jeanne Coverage" on TWC's program guide back in 2004 when Hurricane Jeanne was making landfall. TWC must of requested either Zap2it or Titan TV to update the listings.

130

Local Forecast / Re: General LF Discussion

« on: September 24, 2013, 03:43:34 PM »

IntelliSTAR #26203, Pullman, WA. The headend is Time Warner Cable.

TWC IntelliSTAR- Pullman, WA- Sep. 23, 2013- 7:28AM PDT

I once saw a WeatherSTAR XL on this headend about 8 years ago    back when the headend was still Adelphia. The XL was replaced with the IS when Time Warner acquired Adelphia in late 2005.

Before when TimeWarner Cable took over with the IntelliStar, by any chance did this XL have the version 3 graphics update? Or did they replace the XL shortly before the logo change on August 15 of that year?

131

Everything Else TWC / Re: General TWC Discussion

« on: September 08, 2013, 04:21:59 PM »

Does the IntelliStar 2 have the orange logo too? I assume it does. As for the SD IntelliStar, I'm still kind of surprised that they would continue to add new updates for the regular SD IntelliStar since it's already 8 years old and standard definition television is already declining. I'm sure that the XL and the 4000 are still the same as always (like the "Green is Universal" campaign).

132

Local Forecast / Re: General LF Discussion

« on: August 27, 2013, 09:55:18 PM »

Charter cable in the town of Grand Coulee, Washington no longer shows any LOT8s whatsover    The headend used to show the WeatherSTAR 4000 up in Omak but as of now it only shows satellite LFs and LDL. I don't believe this is a LOT8s outage, though, as Grand Coulee and Omak are two separate headends (TWC is on channel 12 in Grand Coulee while up in Omak it's on channel 14). I'm guessing that the Omak TWC feed must have been simulcasted in Grand Coulee until 2008, when the GC headend discontinued its digital tier package and the TWC feed must have became it's own separate feed in GC.

Because of this discovery today at my grandmother's house in Grand Coulee, I don't know what the fate is of Omak's WeatherSTAR 4000 unit    but I guess it was worth finding out for myself.

Here is my last recorded video clip of Omak's 4000 unit from six and a half years ago.

TWC WeatherSTAR 4000- Omak, WA- Apr. 1, 2007- 6:59PM PST

Maybe TWC is planning on ending support of the WeatherSTAR 4000? It's possible that the workers at that Charter headend might be aware of the end of TWC's analog satellite signal. The one in Litchfield, IL is still being used as of late.

WeatherStar 4000 8/23/2013 Brown vertical scroll error

It's possible that they couldn't even afford an InteliStar or even an InteliStar 2. It would be nice if TWC were to offer most of their cable affiliates a free upgrade if they still have an older legacy model. The 4000 is already 23 years old.

133

Everything Else TWC / Re: General TWC Discussion

« on: August 16, 2013, 10:00:10 PM »

Somebody who updates weather.com forgot to drink their coffee this morning 

What state is that from, Alaska?    Maybe TWC doesn't care about forecasting accurate weather anymore. 

134

General Discussion / Re: What is the last thing you bought?

« on: August 07, 2013, 11:37:20 PM »

I forgot to mention this, but two weeks ago, the last thing I bought were:

• $30 iTunes gift card (to collect more of the "golden age" TWC music for my 4000/WeatherScan XL emulators)
• A official CD copy of David Lanz's Cristofori's Dream album (featured both May 1990 & August 1992 TWC LF playlists) - $14.99
• A official DVD copy of Pokémon The Movie: Destiny Deoxys (I remember seeing this on Kids WB back when it first aired in 2005) - $6.99

Total: $53.79 (my mom helped me out on doing some chores for my savings). 

135

Local Forecast / Re: TWC Songs you've heard in other places

« on: July 24, 2013, 02:38:06 PM »

I've found another LF song that I've heard outside of TWC. "House Rocker" by Network Music (a.k.a. Killer Tracks) was featured in one of the local news intros from NewsActive3 (previously featured from the August 1995 playlist). The song is featured in the WAGA teaser clip (4:45-5:03).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HSNEd8l4uI