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Showing posts with label The Weather Channel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Weather Channel. Show all posts

NWS Eastern Region to WFOs: "Refrain" from using Weather Channel's winter storm names

9:12 AM | Labels: , ,

In case you missed it on JDTVB's Facebook page, The Weather Channel has named the Nor'easter that's scheduled to strike the East Coast today "Athena."  That's part of its recent decision to begin naming winter storms.

As expected, this isn't going over so well elsewhere.  Here's what the National Weather Service had to say in an administrative message to all Weather Forecast Offices in the Eastern Region:
TWC's reaction to this NWS smackdown has not been recorded.

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The Weather Channel lays off 7% of employees, according to report

9:00 AM | Labels: ,

Cuts come as part of restructuring; 75-80 employees said to be affected

TVNewser is reporting that The Weather Channel has let go approximately 7% of its workforce as part of a restructuring effort.

The move is estimated to have affected between 75 and 80 people.

“In late September we began an effort to reorganize of our company into business units based around our customers and the products and services we create and deliver to them,” TWC said in a statement. “With these organizational changes and our new structure, we are better positioned for future growth.”

TWC has been in the news recently for the departures of longtime meteorologists Adam Berg and Jeff Morrow, and then for its plans to begin naming winter storms, much as tropical storms are named.  That idea hasn't exactly been well-received (despite TWC's assertions to the contrary), particularly among TV meteorologists who feel the move might have worked better had it come as a collaboration with the National Weather Service and other companies like AccuWeather.

The layoffs are the first since 2008 at TWC.  Late that year, after NBCUniversal and private equity firsm Blackstone Group and Bain Capital bought controlling interest in the network, jobs were also eliminated.

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Jeff Morrow leaving The Weather Channel after 27 years

8:53 AM | Labels: , ,

Jeff Morrow
Staff members at The Weather Channel were informed via email this morning that longtime meteorologist Jeff Morrow, who has been with the network for 27 years, is leaving.

The email, which didn't explain why Morrow is departing, was sent by Helen Swenson, TWC's VP of live programming.

“Jeff has been an important contributor to the growth and evolution of The Weather Channel and we appreciate the many years of forecasting and live field coverage Jeff has delivered as part of the best weather provider in the country,” Swenson wrote.

TVNewser reports that Morrow may not be the only meteorologist on the way out at TWC, although no names were mentioned in the report.

Stay tuned.

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COMMENTARY: Naming winter storms? What a dumb idea.

7:42 PM | Labels: , , , ,

The Weather Channel decides to name winter's worst storms - without working with the NWS or ... anyone else.  My view: It's unnecessary, unwanted and may confuse folks.


The Weather Channel made a rather bold and, dare I say, unusual announcement on Tuesday.  Beginning this winter, they're going to name winter's worst storms ... yeah, just as tropical systems are named, the biggest and baddest storms of the winter will now get named, too.

You read that correctly.  I'm not making this up.

I see only three problems with this:  One, it's not necessary.  This is purely The Weather Channel trying to drum up ... something.  What they're going to drum up aside from ridicule, I don't know.

Two, it's not like anyone's been begging for this.  Have you heard anyone asking for this? "You know, we ought to name winter storms!" Or, "Hey, that storm is so bad, I wanna name it Khan!"

No, you haven't, and, to my knowledge, no one in an official position in this country has, either.  I don't think anyone else (outside of TWC's headquarters) has, anyway.

And lastly, it's entirely possible - likely, even - that such a move will only confuse people, many of whom - and this may come as a shock to folks at TWC - don't normally turn to TWC for the most up-to-date weather info, but instead rely on local sources, which I personally think is a better idea.

What TWC's folks should have done was sit down with the National Weather Service and a group of local meteorologists and decided if this was something worth doing.  It wouldn't have taken five minutes for the experts to explain that it's not.

Besides, if we get a whopper of a snowstorm around here this year, I'll probably just call it "Snowmageddon" anyway ... 

What do you think?  Leave me a comment below or drop a note on my Facebook page.

To see the entire list of The Weather Channel's 26 alphabetical winter storm names, click past the jump.




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WSI buys Weather Central

7:10 AM | Labels: , , ,

Purchase of competitor expands The Weather Channel's domination of the weather market

Weather Services International (WSI) has reached an agreement to acquire Weather Central, a Madison, Wis. based global provider of interactive weather technology, graphics and data services for professional, media, and consumers delivered to television, web and mobile screens. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

“The acquisition of Weather Central enables us to immediately expand the range of products we offer to each company’s business clients in television, wind energy, insurance and retail, as well as increase the speed at which we can develop new innovations,” said Mark Gildersleeve, president of WSI. “Our goal is to make the best products available to our collective customer base. Every broadcast customer, for example, will gain access to new tropical data, radar data, forecast models, and severe weather tracking tools within the first thirty days at no charge. In addition, we are offering a wider suite of products in the interactivity, social, news, traffic, web, mobile and video categories.”

Weather Central brings additional strength in core weather capabilities with its data cloud and neural network initiatives. Weather Central’s common user profile capabilities and application expertise will improve the end user experience for both company’s professional clients. Among the company’s first joint projects will be the application of weather analytics to improve advertising effectiveness in the retail sector.
 
“This acquisition will accelerate the delivery of professional weather solutions to business customers around the globe” said Patrick Vogt, CEO of Weather Central. “We believe there is tremendous potential to grow our weather services business outside North America and to be a more effective competitor generally. By fully harnessing the resources of both organizations, we will make even more advancements in weather data and technology that our clients can apply directly to the bottom line.”

Patrick Vogt will step into a new role supporting the integration and key customer initiatives, with all of his efforts focusing on ensuring a smooth transition. Blackstone Advisory Partners L.P. served as WSI’s financial advisor in the transaction and Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP acted as legal advisor. 

WSI is affiliated with The Weather Channel, which is owned by NBC Universal, The Blackstone Group and Bain Capital.

For an interesting take on this purchase, read Jason Samenow's story in The Washington Post.

Information for this story was provided by Weather Central.

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