TWC's original concept was and still should be round the clock weather coverage. There are too many long form programs now that are cutting into coverage time, especially on weekends. This is most annoying when storms are affecting your given area and you have to wait through the duration of the program(s). I do enjoy some of them but it has gotten excessive. It's just a thought but maybe TWC could create another separate Channel (like WeatherScan) where programs, specials or whatever would run 24 hours per day.
Actually, there already is a channel just like that called The Weather Channel Features Channel. It airs Storm Stories, Epic Conditions, and Weather Ventures. You can watch it online via the TidalTV internet TV player at
http://www.tidaltv.com/. When you go there, it will redirect you to
http://beta.tidaltv.com/ because they have an updated beta version of their player out. It's absolutely free. They do have a version of The Weather Channel itself to where you can watch it via the internet, but it's not the live satellite feed that everyone is looking for. This feed has pre-recorded forecasts from weather.com, which I think is ridiculous; Another reason why I don't use the TidalTV player. I'll be glad when that day comes when somebody finally comes up with the technology for an internet TV player that actually has the capability to receive TWC's live satellite feed (No WeatherSTAR required). Of course, I could be wrong about the requirements of a WeatherSTAR. I do know from what I've been reading in this forum is you only have to have a WeatherSTAR if you want to "localize" your forecast for a given area. For example, I live in Woodstock, GA, 25 miles north of Atlanta. If you use Woodstock for the forecast city then you would have to have any of WeatherSTARs that currently exist from Jr. to the IntelliSTAR. Surely, none of those are required for the live satellite feed. Would anybody who has closer ties on this forum to TWC like to contact them (if necessary) to see if the live satellite feed that's broadcasted on DISH Network, DIRECTV, Sky Angel IPTV (Internet-Protocol Television), and nameless satellite providers has a WeatherSTAR with it or not? If you the somebody that's interested, once you know something, would you please let me know? It would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. The link to the TidalTV player page is below.
EDIT on 1/17/2009 1:02 A.M.: Actually, I just went to the WeatherSTAR support page at
http://support.weather.com/, clicked on "The Weather Channel® IntelliStar®" link, then I accessed the "Instructions for Setting the IntelliStar to the AMC-10 Satellite", and I came to the conclusion that DISH Network, DIRECTV, Sky Angel IPTV, and the nameless satellite providers all have IntelliSTARs; they're all on the AMC-10 Satellite Feed which would make it impossible for any Internet TV provider to stream The Weather Channel via the internet. Somebody feel free to please correct me if I'm wrong. For those of you who have TV Tuner cards, do you have to have your computer hooked up to your TV in order to receive The Weather Channel that way? I'm sure that there's some of you that have it on a cable company vs. the satellite provider. I cannot pick it up in my room right now which is in my parents' garage thus the closest TV would be upstairs in my parents' den. I do have a TV in my room, but it only has the Sky Angel IPTV (Faith Package). Or can you pick up The Weather Channel and other TV channels off the satellite without hooking the computer up to your TV? Please let me know. lfmusiclover, feel free to move this post into its separate thread if necessary. Thank you.