(TWC) is a cable and satellite television network that reports national
Weather and weather-related
News 24 hours a day. The Weather Channel is headquartered in
Vinings, Georgia , near
Atlanta . It is a wholly owned subsidiary of
Landmark Communications .
(pictured from left) and
Sharon Resultan (right) featured from a TWC broadcast in
1996 .]]
showing the regional weather map, from a
January 5 ,
2002 broadcast.]]
during
Hurricane Ophelia on
September 15 ,
2005 .]]
The Weather Channel went on the air on
May 2 ,
1982 and reports the weather and other
Meteorological information for the
United States as well as other countries and regions of the
World . TWC originally gathered its national region forecasts from the
National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and gathered its local forecasts from local
National Weather Service offices, but since
2002 has done local forecasting in-house from Vinings, Georgia; however, current weather and forecast model data is still provided by the National Weather Service, and the ultraviolet index is from the
Environmental Protection Agency . The Weather Channel does not have any local meteorologists outside of the Atlanta area.
TWC also uses special
Proprietary equipment that inserts local weather forecast and warning information if it is viewed on a cable TV system. The original
WeatherStar Technology has been upgraded on most cable systems to
IntelliStar , including
Vocal Local to announce the three-day local
Forecast . Satellite viewers see a roundup of local TWC forecasts for major cities across the U.S., as well as satellite and
Radar images, and severe weather watch and warning maps when active.
The Weather Channel produces a service, based on modified versions of WeatherStar technology, called
Weatherscan on which a separate channel constantly displays local and regional conditions and forecasts along with The Weather Channel's logo and
Advertisement s.
TWC's sister channel in
Canada is
The Weather Network in
English and
MétéoMédia in
French , which uses similar technology that is currently in use in the USA. TWC also runs websites in
Brazil (Canal do Tempo), the
United Kingdom (Weather Channel),
France (Meteo 123) and
Germany (Wetter 123). Apart from their stake in The Weather Network/MétéoMédia, TWC only runs their US channel, although it does air an international forecast.
A definitive history of the network, ''The Weather Channel: The Improbable Rise of a Media Phenomenon'', by Frank Batten and Jeffrey L. Cruikshank, was published by Harvard Business Press in May 2002, on TWC's 20th anniversary.
In
March 2005 , The Weather Channel announced that it would receive a new logo/tagline, "Bringing Weather to Life," replacing the
2001 "Live By it" campaign. This change began on
August 15 ,
2005 , with changes in formats and programming taking place as part of a subsequent gradual transition that lasted until December.
Over the years, attempts to broadcast international versions of TWC (apart from Canada's The Weather Network/MétéoMédia and the Australian version of the Weather Channel) have failed. A UK version of The Weather Channel ran from
1 September 1996 to
30 January 1998 , when it was closed due to low viewing figures. TWC also ran The Weather Channel Latin America (TWCLA), which operated in
Spanish in
Mexico ,
Puerto Rico and
South America , this network ceased operations in
December 2002 . The service's three original anchors were Paola Elorza, Sal Morales and Mari Carmen Ramos who left the channel within a year of its launch and went on to work for Univision in Miami, Telemundo in Los Angeles and CNN International. At one point, there was also a Portuguese version in Brazil. The Weather Channel aired overnights in Hawaii on local TV stations, but its
WeatherStar 4000 unit suffered from several technical difficulties during its run, its programming has since been dropped. However up to 2000, The Weather Channel shows the Weather Star 4000's Travel Cities Forecast nationally if there's a problem when tuning in.
The Weather Channel's most recognized logo started out as a slightly-squished blue rectangular box that debuted on TWC’s first broadcast on May 2, 1982. This logo would later be revised in . More recently, in
August 2005 , the logo was re-overhauled; the blue rectangle’s corners are straight, and the "Weather Channel" text is now in lower-case and left-justified.
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