Messages

241

TWC and your Cable Company / Re: DirecTV Dropping TWC

« on: January 25, 2014, 12:53:48 AM »

I just don't get TWC's rules for when they stay live and when they go to tape.
Last night they ended storm coverage at 8pm though my cable guide said they were going to be on till 11pm.
Tonight there are no active storms and TWC is staying live to 10pm.

you're forgetting the fearsome WINTER STORM KRONOS...

Yeah, winter weather in south Texas and Louisiana would (well, should) warrant extra coverage.   I guess TWC realizes that there's another part of the country other than the Northeast?

i live in louisiana.. we had snow.. interstates are shut down.. but all TWC cares about is Houston.. who got LESS snow than we did.

Houston got snow? I thought they only got ice. There is an unfortunate bias for the Northeast region when it comes to wall to wall coverage. (I do mean 24+ hours straight) There's only a bias towards the Southeast if Atlanta is being affected. Although, I've noticed in the past couple of years, that's not always the case either...

EDIT: To be fair, I do understand the bias, that is where the largest population of people live in our country, so if any threatening weather is in that region it makes sense to be all in on it. If any region of the country feels like outsiders it's the West.

The Northeast bias is one of the main reasons why I have stopped watching TWC, and while it has always been an issue, it has gotten worse ever since NBC acquired TWC (for obvious reasons).  Yes, I understand that the NE is where most of the nation's population is, but often times with an ongoing storm in the central or southern Plains, for example, TWC will devote more coverage to how the storm will be affecting the Northeast in the coming days than what's actually going on with the storm at the present time (this happened with some of the winter storms last year).  And even take two equally dangerous weather phenomena (i.e flooding in the Northeast and a heat wave in the south). Which is likely to get more coverage?  I think you guessed it.

The Atlanta bias seems to be getting worse too.  It's almost as if Atlanta is the only city in the southeastern US.  Not hard to figure out where TWC's headquarters is, I bet.  Probably all the people who actually think TWC is a "life saving resource" are from Atlanta.  In that case, it probably would be as useful as the local news stations.

Honestly, if TWC changed their name to the "Eastern US Weather Channel," I wouldn't have a problem.  Seems that more accurately reflects what they cover anyway.

242

General Weather Chat / Re: What's the weather in your area?

« on: January 24, 2014, 09:20:06 AM »

Currently in Norman:
10F Fair skies
Wind chill: 0F

Meanwhile, OKC airport dropped down to 4F this morning, the coldest temperature there in almost 3 years.  The coldest wind chill reported this morning was -6F.

243

TWC and your Cable Company / Re: DirecTV Dropping TWC

« on: January 23, 2014, 10:15:05 PM »

I just don't get TWC's rules for when they stay live and when they go to tape.
Last night they ended storm coverage at 8pm though my cable guide said they were going to be on till 11pm.
Tonight there are no active storms and TWC is staying live to 10pm.

you're forgetting the fearsome WINTER STORM KRONOS...

Yeah, winter weather in south Texas and Louisiana would (well, should) warrant extra coverage.   I guess TWC realizes that there's another part of the country other than the Northeast?

244

General Weather Chat / Re: What's the weather in your area?

« on: January 23, 2014, 12:44:07 PM »

19°F Cloudy and breezy

Winds: N 24, G 28 mph
Wind Chill: 2°F

245

Everything Else TWC / Re: General TWC Discussion

« on: January 21, 2014, 07:11:54 PM »

I know we can't satisfy everyone, but I feel that TWC is now "over-doing" Storm Mode.  I don't mind the extra coverage, but do the black and red colors and the special music really need to be used?  I mean, come on.

246

IntelliStar 2 Discussion / Re: Intellistar Background suggestion...

« on: January 21, 2014, 12:03:04 PM »

I would like to throw this idea out there for everyone...


How hard would it be for the background images used on the HD Star to be linked to the location you are watching from? For example if you live in San Francisco image of the Golden Gate Bridge or in New York a picture of the Statue of Liberty?

I wouldn't think it would be that hard; in fact, I thought that's what they were going to do in the first place.  It's a little weird if you live in the city and see a farmland background, or vice versa.  I also don't like seeing a bright sunny background in the middle of the night.

247

Winter Weather / Re: Worst Arctic Outbreak in 20 Years Coming 1/5-8/2014

« on: January 20, 2014, 01:46:46 PM »

It looks like the next arctic outbreak is going to be confined farther north and east.  The current NWS forecast shows my area dropping to highs in the mid-40s at best, with lows in the upper-20s.  That's nothing compared to what we had earlier this winter!

Completely forget what I said a few days ago.   Forecasts are now showing two big drops in temperatures, one tomorrow and one (more major) on Thursday.  If the forecast verifies, the high on Thursday will only be 28 24 degrees, with a low that night dropping down into the mid-teens upper single-digits.

248

TWC and your Cable Company / Re: DirecTV Dropping TWC

« on: January 20, 2014, 12:53:59 PM »

Anyway, CNN aired a taped interview with Jim Cantore this morning during Reliable Sources and brought on an expert to talk about this situation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6HWMjPNijs

So TWC first bashes DirecTV, then WeatherNation, and now they're after the National Weather Service.  What Cantore said about "your first hint about what's to come" whether you're at the NWS, or emergency management office, or a local TV station "is from The Weather Channel" is untrue.  Now I can't speak for the others, but I know someone at the NWS who said that's a lie.

It's ridiculous that TWC has to flat-out lie in order to salvage themselves at this point.

249

TWC and your Cable Company / Re: DirecTV Dropping TWC

« on: January 18, 2014, 08:53:26 PM »

the least TWC could do if they don't want to extend coverage is put some devotion into the Local On The 8s. the *new* format is too buggy and not enough local information is shown during the 60 second flavor. even if they make it 90 seconds long with the addition of a Metro Page and 36 hour Local Forecast Page it would make it much more watchable.

Absolutely!  I remember a video about TWC where Cantore said he thinks the "Local on the 8s is the number one reason why people tune in to The Weather Channel."  OK, well if that's the case, then why in the world would the channel cut back the forecast to only one minute?!  So they can air more commercials for their stupid reality shows?  It's also ridiculous that the updated forecast design STILL after two months has so many bugs! Ugh.

250

TWC and your Cable Company / Re: DirecTV Dropping TWC

« on: January 18, 2014, 01:41:04 PM »

Here is a website that I found that is devoted to the DirecTV/TWC debacle:
http://droptheweatherchannel.com/

Thanks for the link.  The top post "The Potential of The Weather Channel" said something about them no longer naming winter storms.  Interesting.  I hadn't really been paying attention to that, but I would have to agree with the decision for them to cease doing it.

251

Winter Weather / Re: Worst Arctic Outbreak in 20 Years Coming 1/5-8/2014

« on: January 17, 2014, 07:29:23 PM »

It looks like the next arctic outbreak is going to be confined farther north and east.  The current NWS forecast shows my area dropping to highs in the mid-40s at best, with lows in the upper-20s.  That's nothing compared to what we had earlier this winter!

252

TWC and your Cable Company / Re: DirecTV Dropping TWC

« on: January 17, 2014, 07:25:40 PM »

I know the dual-feed is at least a step in the right direction, but I wish they wouldn't use it.  I would much rather watch what the latest is on hazardous weather in some other part of the country then watch Highway Through Hell or some other stupid crap.

Hopefully the return on WCL in the evening hours on weekdays, as well as more coverage on weekends, will be a permanent change.  The WATT schedule was just crappy.

253

IntelliStar 2 Discussion / Re: Intellistar 2 Greetings list

« on: January 16, 2014, 09:50:15 PM »

I almost thought they got rid of the "cute" greetings, because on the past couple of LFs I watched, I only saw "Hello, This is Your Weather."

254

General Discussion / Re: The Pot Belly Stove

« on: January 14, 2014, 08:52:21 PM »

Is anyone interested that the Winter Olympics are starting on February 6 in Sochi, Russia?  When growing up, my family and I loved to watch the events and the ceremonies.  I don't know how much time I will have this time due to work, but I still may try to watch a little.  What do you all think about them?

I personally prefer watching the summer Olympics over the winter ones but still find them both enjoyable.  The only bad thing is that the winter Olympics are, well, in the middle of winter during classes and stuff, so assuming I don't have boat loads of homework I should be able to tune in.  Let's just hope these Olympics are carried out safely without any suicide bombings like what were occurring a few weeks ago.

255

TWC and your Cable Company / Re: DirecTV Dropping TWC

« on: January 14, 2014, 08:48:29 PM »

Weather Caught on Camera is back  looks like TWC doesn't really care anymore...

Yeah, especially with the couple of things I have seen posted on here that TWC has completely ended negotiations with DirecTV.  weather.com is still decked out in DirecTV ads, but I guess that will be disappearing soon.  It's too bad TWC and DirecTV couldn't work out a negotiation that would benefit the rest of us (i.e. get rid of a few hours of long-form per day) but that's fine.  As Patrick has said, TWC is not the most reliable source when it comes to getting weather quickly and easily and probably never will be.