IntelliStar

IntelliStar
Domestic IntelliStar, final design
Weatherscan IntelliStar, final design
Manufacturer:	Wind River
Family:	Weather Star
Hardware:	Intel x86
OS:	FreeBSD
Graphics:	Custom OpenGL Renderer
Release date:	Domestic: Beta: 3Q 2003 Final: 1Q 2004 Weatherscan: Beta: February 2003 Final: September 2003
Status:	Domestic: Retired - Decommissioned by The Weather Channel on November 16, 2015. Weatherscan: Retired - Decommissioned by The Weather Channel on December 12, 2022.
Preceded By:	Weather Star XL
Succeeded by:	IntelliStar 2 XD & IntelliStar 2 Jr.

The IntelliStar (stylized as IS1) was the fifth-generation successor to the Weather Star systems used by The Weather Channel (TWC). Like the Weather Star, it was installed at the cable provider's headend. It was used to display local weather information over the video feed of The Weather Channel until 2015 and remained in use for the channel's sister network, Weatherscan, until 2022.

The IntelliStar had many enhanced features over its predecessor, the Weather Star XL. Like all other Weather Star systems, the IntelliStar received its data over a satellite connection. However, unlike the rest of the systems, it had the capability to receive more complex information in a more efficient manner. Domestic IntelliStar units – those used for The Weather Channel proper instead of Weatherscan – also had a Dual Feed feature, which gave the IntelliStar the ability to switch to a secondary network feed providing local, regional or national coverage from TWC. This feature was widely used during severe weather events, as it allowed The Weather Channel to provide localized weather coverage to specific IntelliStar units in affected areas.

It also had an improved graphics display and dynamic radar capabilities. HiRAD (High Resolution Aggregated Data) technology – which was added to the IntelliStar in 2006 – allowed The Weather Channel to choose any city, town or landmark as an observation or forecast site and provide data. Occasionally, the HiRAD function would fail, in which case the National Weather Service sites were used (only the current conditions – and previously, the eight-city product and regional/metro products – are affected significantly).

In May 2015, it was announced that domestic IntelliStar units would be replaced with either the IntelliStar 2 xD or the IntelliStar 2 Jr. by October 1, 2015. The IntelliStar as used for The Weather Channel proper was discontinued on November 16, 2015. A small number of IntelliStar units used for the Weatherscan network remained in service but were eventually retired on December 12, 2022.

Design and Software

The front panel design of the domestic IntelliStar. The design used for Weatherscan is similar except that the text reading The Weather Channel reads weatherscan (sic).

The IntelliStar differed in design from previous Weather Star units, as the system was a customized rack-mount Intel CPU-based PC. It ran on the FreeBSD operating system with specialized software written by The Weather Channel to make it function as an IntelliStar, but otherwise using commodity hardware of the PC platform. This was said to minimize maintenance costs, and to ease upgrading of the IntelliStar units. This trend has continued with the release of the newer IntelliStar 2 series. As part of the move to the IntelliStar platform, development of the software that was run by the unit was created mostly in-house by the internal Star team. This helped cut costs, as well as make the system easier to work on than the IRIX-based XL.

The previous Weather Star units used a proprietary hardware design that hampered any hardware upgrades (the Weather Star XL, for comparison, used proprietary SGI hardware, and ran IRIX). TWC contributed code to the FreeBSD development community and funded the initial development of the AMD Radeon 8500/R200 generation 3D graphics drivers used under both Linux and FreeBSD.

The—at the time—new design and modern hardware of the IS1 made it possible to generate graphics in real time for on-air presentation. The XL, on the other hand, pre-rendered video of all its products and played it back. Thanks to the proprietary Thunderstorm card, the IS1 was able to take in live video from an analog or SDI source and accurately overlay graphics and audio onto it. The IS1 also was the first Star unit to offer both analog and digital outputs. The system offered composite video and audio output for analog cable headend equipment, or an MPEG stream using ASI for a fully digital output solution.

For the cable affiliate, the IS1 became easier to manage remotely. While the satellite connection on all Stars means that content can be easily sent to the units, it is only a one-way connection, which hampers active management. Management over Ethernet of Local Ad Sales (LAS) crawls and configuration was added with full support, allowing cable affiliates to stay out of the headend and in the local office. This also allowed easy remote troubleshooting by the Star team at TWC headquarters. Previous units in the Weather Star lineup either had to be managed locally by plugging in a keyboard and video monitor, with the exception of the XL; limited ethernet connectivity was available and main management was done over a dialup or serial connection.

Graphics Packages on the Domestic IntelliStar 1

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  The initial launch graphics set

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  The 2006 revision featuring the new 2007 icon set

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  The 2007 facelift

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  The 2008 SD refresh graphics with the 2007 icon set

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  The 2010 minor SD refresh with new icons

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  The Enhanced graphics set used until the November 2015 decomissioning

Graphics Packages on the Weatherscan IntelliStar 1

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  The initial launch graphics set

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  The 2005 revision

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  The minor 2006 revision featuring the new 2007 icon set

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  The minor 2010 revision featuring a new icon set

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  The early 2016 revision that removed The Weather Channel's logo

IntelliStar History

See also: Weatherscan § Timeline

This timeline primarily covers the history of the domestic IntelliStar, and most references to "IntelliStar" will refer to it unless otherwise stated.

Date	Notes
February 28, 2003	The IntelliStar hardware platform makes its debut on Weatherscan, The Weather Channel's offshoot 24-hour local weather information service.
Late summer 2003	The TWC IntelliStar unit begins beta testing in select markets.
March 9, 2004	The IntelliStar ends beta testing and begins its rollout to select cable headends, including Comcast headends in markets such as Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Vocal Local is active for the Regional and Local Radar screens and for during the "36 Hour Forecast" segment, although it did not read the wind information and Weather Bulletin data until three months later. There are multiple seven-day forecast narrations, including "The Week Ahead", "Here's your 7-day outlook", "Your 7-day outlook, and "Your Week Ahead", instead the XL's single narration for the product. The Regional Conditions map returns (it had been discontinued on the XL in June 2003).
July 2004	DirecTV debuts the "black bar" Lower Display Line, which displays the forecast and current conditions for major cities across the U.S., and major airport delays during national segments and special programming. This is operated from an IntelliStar that runs a specialized version of the TWC software. The narration also updates to begin reading the wind information during the "36 Hour Forecast" segment and "Weather Bulletin" data from the National Weather Service. The gray portion of the Lower Display Line becomes slightly brighter.
August 2004	Each cable company headend's STAR ID number, previously on the upper right hand corner of the screen in The Weather Channel's hourly identification, also began displaying under the heading "Local weather ID" on the Lower Display Line. It was criticized because it is displayed longer than the actual weather data on the LDL. At first, this is displayed only on the local forecast, but later that month, it started to be displayed during live national broadcasts as well. However, with the new Lower Display Line, as of June 2, 2008, the STAR ID only displays on the LDL during the local forecasts.
September 2004	The "Regional Forecast" map returns for Stars that feature the metro forecast product. "36 Hour Forecast" is renamed "Local Forecast" as it switches to a 48-hour Local Forecast product, and is increased to four screens. The AM/PM Commute Metro Maps are introduced. The "School Day Weather" and "Outdoor Activity Forecast" screens are added. The "School Day Weather" screen displays only during the school year, while in the summer, the "Outdoor Activity Forecast" displays for all days of the week, including holidays. As a result of the addition of these screens, additional screens are used in each flavor, making the duration for each screen shorter. The 90-second flavor is discontinued. The hour-by-hour forecast, referred to as "Daily Planner" is now renamed the "Daypart Forecast". The IntelliStar begins its rollout to Time Warner Cable headends.
October 2004	National sponsors are added during the local forecast, such as Intel Centrino mobile technology, America Online and Dell. These are shown on the upper right hand corner from after the ad crawl finishes displaying through the end of the local forecast. In summer 2006, an animated sponsor tag is added. In February 2011, sponsor tags began to also be featured on one-minute local forecasts during long-form programming.
November 2004	Buzzing audio interference is widely reported at the beginning of the Local Forecast during the "Current Conditions" and "School Day Weather"/"Outdoor Activity Forecast" products.
December 2004	The "Local Forecast" segment sometimes is reduced to three pages, because the Vocal Local outlasts the available time for the screen.
January 2005	More cities are introduced to the Metro Forecast maps.
May 3, 2005	Vocal Local narration is changed from "Your" to "Our" in all cases.
Mid-May 2005(April 2005 in Atlanta (beta))	Traffic conditions from Traffic Pulse debut in major media markets, including New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Detroit. The "Traffic Pulse" logo is also displayed on the bottom left hand corner during the "Local on the 8s" intro in these markets.
August 15, 2005	The IntelliStar receives minor graphical changes, including a sunny background to replace the cloud background, and addition of The Weather Channel's new logo. This change was also made on Weather Star XL systems.
Late August 2005	Many cities are added and removed on the metro and regional forecast maps.
Fall 2005	The Air Quality Forecast no longer shows the data for two or three cities in the forecast area. Instead, it shows the air quality for only one city. This change does not occur in Southern California. The IntelliStar begins its rollout to several Adelphia headends prior to Time Warner Cable and Comcast headends being prepared to take over. Previously, Adelphia headends featured a mix of Weather Star 4000 and XL units.
December 15, 2005	The "L-Bar" (which is similar to the one used by Weatherscan and NBC Weather Plus) is introduced. It displays current weather conditions and forecasts on-screen during long-form programming, such as Forecast Earth, Storm Stories and It Could Happen Tomorrow. Products incorporated into the bar include a daypart forecast, text-based forecast and an extended forecast. A national L-bar also debuted for satellite providers carrying the raw national feed and features current conditions and forecast information for major U.S. cities. A "Traffic Overview" map similar to one seen on Weatherscan is added. The narration for the "Traffic Overview" map randomly alternates between "Traffic Conditions around our area" and "Traffic Congestion for our area". From this date through January 2, 2006, Vocal Local narration for the Regional/Local Doppler Radar segment is removed. A bug occurs during the three-day extended forecast in which the narration reads only the temperatures on the first day and not the rest of the forecast. The morning and afternoon commute maps are discontinued. The Almanac and Getaway Forecast products are discontinued for many IntelliStar units with traffic products. The School Day Weather and Outdoor Activity Forecast products are discontinued for many IntelliStar units with traffic products.
December 29, 2005	From this date until January 19, 2006, the narration says simply "Our extended forecast" over the three-day "Extended Forecast" segment, perhaps in response to the bug in which temperatures would not be read. This was reported as an error. The narration for the "Traffic Incident" and "Traffic Flow" segments is removed, leaving only one remaining narration for the "Traffic Overview" map.
February 21, 2006	The 90-second forecast is brought back, which causes the regional forecast to be discontinued for IntelliStar units with traffic products. This also causes the text-based forecast to sometimes show only two pages instead of three or four. The almanac returns to IntelliStar units with traffic products. The morning and afternoon commute maps return after a hiatus.
March 31, 2006	HiRAD (High Resolution Aggregated Data) technology makes its debut on the IntelliStar and weather.com. This allows TWC to choose almost any location, landmark, or neighborhood as a weather reporting station and to augment current conditions data. Only certain IntelliStars received this update during this time; however, by summer 2006, all IntelliStar units have HiRAD capability. If HiRAD fails, the original observation sites are used. Widespread HiRAD outages are rare, and are usually related to TWC outages (localized HiRAD outages can occasionally occur to individual STARs if they are rebooted).
June 26, 2006	The 90-second forecast is once again discontinued. As a result, the regional forecast map is restored.
August 8, 2006	A metro conditions map is added. This causes some changes made to the lineups on the local forecast.
Fall 2006	Dish Network receives the satellite IntelliStar. It is identical to the one used by DirecTV.
December 12, 2006	Weather icons that were used on The Weather Channel since 1998 are replaced by a new set of icons. The changes were also made on DirecTV/Dish Network satellite, weather.com, national broadcast, and Weatherscan. Some IntelliStar units did not receive this update until a month or two later. Note: The "Fog" and "Windy" are only worded in the regional/metro maps.
January 23, 2007	The radar now includes indicators for wintry precipitation. The former "light/heavy" precipitation key is changed to "rain." Entries for "mix/ice" and "snow" are added, replacing the previous time lapse bar.
April 2007	The Getaway Forecast is brought back on a regular basis to select IntelliStars with traffic products. It also causes the traffic overview map not to show for some IntelliStars with traffic products. The 90-second forecast is brought back, which causes the regional conditions and regional forecast to be discontinued for IntelliStars with traffic products and once again it also causes the text-based forecast to sometimes show only two pages instead of three or four.
May 2007	Select traffic maps are disabled due to insufficient coverage of the viewing area, including Indianapolis, Fort Worth and Orlando.
May 7, 2007	The Vocal Local narration is discontinued for all local forecast segments during the channel's designated prime time hours (8:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. Eastern Time).
May 9, 2007	The narration for the "Traffic Report" segment is restored for certain areas only where the overview map was removed.
Mid-May 2007	The feature turning the upper text on the Lower Display Line to yellow while a severe thunderstorm or tornado watch was effective is restored after being inactive for several months.
May 22, 2007	The green "CLEAR" box on the traffic flow segment has been replaced with the text "NO INCIDENTS REPORTED." The radar legend responds with precipitation. The snow and mix indicators now only display if frozen precipitation is detected. From this date through October 23, Vocal Local narration does not read the sky conditions (even if there's no sky condition reported as in the early years); this is reported as an error.
June 4, 2007	The narration for the "Traffic Flow" segment was restored for certain areas only where the overview map was removed.
Late September 2007	Some Getaway Forecast locales change. It was later confirmed that the IntelliStar would have sponsors for Getaway locations and the Getaway product will receive a facelift, likely in late 2007 or early 2008.
October 1, 2007	The Vocal Local narration returns after a six-month hiatus during prime time from 8:00 p.m.–1:00 a.m. Eastern Time. TWC begins using the sponsor ad inserts for its own programs. By mid-September 2008, it appears twice in a row. Until September 2010, the sponsor ad insert for its own programs simply fades out in the middle of the local forecast segment. As of September 2010, the sponsor ad remains in place (like the regular sponsor ad) after the second screen appears through to the end of the local forecast.
October 23, 2007(October 9 for Comcast's Penn Hills, Pennsylvania; South Bend, Indiana; and Lincoln, Nebraska headends (beta): December 21, 2007 for Verizon FiOS headends)	The IntelliStar receives its first major graphical facelift with new title bars and a new cloud background, which was implemented around 3:18 a.m. Eastern Time. While most IntelliStar units received this update, some units still used previous graphics. Once again, The Vocal Local narration reads the full current conditions. The Current Conditions product has been renamed "Now", a title scheme which also encompasses the Latest Observations, Regional Conditions and Metro Conditions products. The Regional Radar and Local Radar products are respectively renamed "Regional Doppler" and "Local Doppler". The images on the School Day Forecast and Outdoor Activity Forecast are changed. Graphics were added to the 24–48 hour "Local Forecast" on the right hand side of the screen, and sound effects were added to correspond with the forecasts. The sliding transition was replaced with a fading transition. The "L-bar" Local Forecast during special programming was revamped. On the bottom right hand corner, the Weather Channel bug is replaced by the "Local on the 8s" logo. The sun in the background moved to the right corner.
February 7, 2008	Any prevailing blue text on the IntelliStar was changed to black.
February 26, 2008	On the two-minute :08 and :38 flavor, the Getaway Forecast was moved between the 36/48-Hour "Local Forecast" and the "Week Ahead" on some IntelliStars (beta stage) (later for Verizon FiOS headends).
March 20, 2008	The 3-Day Extended Forecast was discontinued. Some units testing the beta Getaway-product location were switched back to the normal flavor mode. Units in the Pittsburgh and Atlanta areas begin testing new Getaway and traffic product locations. The Getaway Forecast is moved to the very end of the local forecast, and the traffic products were moved to directly after the current conditions products. As a result, the current conditions metro map was replaced by the local observation pages at :08/:38.
Late March 2008	The same units that received the traffic-placement beta on March 20, 2008 (in Pittsburgh and Atlanta) begin showing the regional forecast once again, which had not been seen on some IntelliStars in nearly a year. However, it was shown at this point after the metro maps (example sequence: Today metro > Tonight metro > Today regional). It was suspected that this is an error in the flavor.
May 2008	The "Incidents and construction impacting our area" narration returns to some IntelliStars listing the Traffic Incidents.
June 2, 2008(May 30 in Atlanta and Pittsburgh, June 12 for satellite IntelliStars)	The Lower Display Line (LDL) was changed. The following changes have occurred: The background changed to blue, and tabs and appearing effects were added. The font changed from Interstate Regular to Helvetica Neue. Icons appear smaller and a scroll-down effect was implemented. The Time and Temperature appear together instead of rotating between the two items in the LDL bug (however, severe weather crawls remain the same). The Monthly Precip item was moved from the local forecast LDL to a new Almanac tab during national programming. Also under this tab are the day's average temperatures (new), as well as sunrise and sunset times. Traffic Incidents are added to the LDL, directly following the Traffic Flow crawl under the Traffic tab. The current date was missing from the LDL. This was reported as an error. Visibility and Ceiling readings are set to appear only during the Local on the 8s. The Local Weather ID is set to appear only on the "Local On The 8s" segments. However, they appear twice in a row. This was reported as an error. The DirecTV/Dish Network Lower Display Line (LDL) Satellite display is missing. This was also reported as an error. The Weather Bulletins background page was changed back to the darker sky blue. The Regional Conditions and Regional Forecast segments return once again with traffic products and were only used during 90-second flavors, except for Verizon FiOS headends, and Pacific areas, which still use the Metro Conditions, and Metro Forecast. The LDL and alert tone for weather advisories and statements remains unmodified. The "L-Bar" forecast is discontinued. This was reported as an error. The drop shadow is removed from The Weather Channel logo. Satellite units only: The time bar switches between the current time in the Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific Time Zones. The front page Current Conditions product starts the Local on the 8s segment only at :08 and :38 each hour and :18 and :48 each hour for Verizon FiOS headends, marking the first such occurrence since the 1990s. The eight-city product s at :28 and :58 each hour instead. The Weather Bulletins page became the first screen when active at :28 and :58 each hour for Verizon FiOS headends. This later appears in all domestic IntelliStars on May 18, 2009. The Local Radar screen does not appear for Verizon FiOS headends and only appears during the short one-minute flavors. However, this made occasional appearances on all IntelliStar units during March 2009. This was reported as an error. The "Marine Forecast and Tides" segments stopped appearing on Verizon FiOS headends in coastal areas leaving only the Marine Forecast segments at :08 and :38 each hour. This was reported as an error. The Traffic Report and Traffic Flow segments stopped appearing on Verizon FiOS headends and only appeared during the national segments on the LDL. More Getaway Forecast screens are featured for Verizon FiOS headends.
Late June 2008	The beta flavor lineup (which switched the placement of the traffic screens) added to IntelliStars in the Pittsburgh and Atlanta markets on March 20, 2008, is removed.
July 1, 2008 (July 24, 2008 for satellite IntelliStars)	The size of the font displaying the temperature bug on the LDL is made larger and the typeface is made bolder. The upper part of the LDL is changed from a light-dark gray gradient to a light-dark blue gradient.
August 22, 2008	The "Local on the 8's" bug always appears on the upper right hand corner on the DirecTV/Dish Network Satellite during "Local on the 8s" if there is no national sponsor appearing. This is related to the launch of DirecTV's "Local on the 8s" system one month later, which places a transparency in the graphics display for sponsorships.
September 3, 2008(August 27, 2008 for IntelliStars operated by FiOS's Pittsburgh and Comcast's Atlanta system (beta); September 9, 2008 for satellite IntelliStars)	More changes to the lower display line: The Local Ad Crawl and Traffic crawl text area (dark blue background) is extended to the right edge of the screen, covering up the "weather.com" text under "The Weather Channel" logo. The spacing of the characters is expanded on the Local Ad Traffic Crawls to make the text more readable, as well as the font size being increased and widened. The font size of the clock on the LDL is enlarged to make it more readable (and to match the size of the temperature). All of the traffic ‘dots’ are now the same size (in the traffic crawl). The drop shadow is added back on The Weather Channel logo as before.
September 25, 2008	The LDL on DirecTV is discontinued during the "Local On The 8s" segments to make way for local forecasts by ZIP code fed through DirecTV receivers.
November 16-November 23, 2008	The coloring of The Weather Channel logo on the LDL becomes green for the first time as NBC Universal begins its second "Green Week" as part of its "Green Is Universal" initiative; the same alteration occurred on all NBC-owned networks including TWC sister network Weatherscan, as well as weather.com. The green logo would also be used for TWC's existing "Earth Week" and for future "Green is Universal" weeks.
December 12, 2008	The "L-Bar" forecast is restored for all domestic IntelliStars; however, its appearance is more coordinated with the 2006–2007 appearance than that introduced in October 2007.
January 2009	The "Incidents and construction impacting our area" narration is once again discontinued.
March 12, 2009	The sound effects on the text-based Local Forecast product are disabled.
April 2009	A few cities on DirecTV and Dish Network's IntelliStar LDL have been removed.
April 6, 2009	The monthly precipitation counter on the LDL now uses HiRAD sites. The monthly precip counter was added to the local forecast again, now part of the "now tab" on the LDL. It continues to be shown under the "almanac" tab during national broadcasts. The "Local on the 8s" bug for DirecTV/Dish Network was made transparent.
April 13, 2009	The "Local on the 8s" bug for DirecTV/Dish Network is updated with a white background and blue-colored font.
May 11, 2009(May 18 on most domestic IntelliStars)	New flavors begin testing on the units in Comcast's Atlanta and Penn Hills/suburban Pittsburgh service areas. The Current Conditions product starts off the "Local on the 8s" segment only at :28 and :58 minutes past the hour during regular programming, marking the first occurrence of such since the 1990s, although it is still in use at :08 and :38 each hour during regular programming and again at :28 minutes past each hour during Day Planner from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Eastern Time and Weekend Now from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. Eastern Time until September 2009 (this was extended until 3 p.m. Eastern Time if there was special coverage) only if no other screens are available. This was extended until 5 p.m. Eastern Time (6 p.m. Eastern until November 19, 2010, through its current 7 p.m. Eastern beginning November 22, 2010 if there is special coverage) only during Day Planner beginning on September 27, 2010. At :08/:38, the eight-city current conditions starts off the local forecast instead on units that have traffic products (even with Marine Forecast and Tides products in coastal areas without traffic products). The eight-city product will also start off the "Local on the 8s" at 08/:38 each hour elsewhere if there is precipitation in the area on units without traffic products. The Weather Bulletins page becomes the first screen when active, leading off the entire local forecast, instead of displaying after the Current Conditions Product. More Getaway Forecast, Almanac, Radar Satellite, and Air Quality screens are featured. The Almanac and Radar/Satellite products display on every two-minute local forecast for non-traffic viewers. The "Local Forecast" segment is sometimes reduced to two pages at :08/:38 each hour rather than :18/:48 each hour. This segment no longer contained more than three periods or "screens" at :08, :18, :38, and :48 past each hour for areas in the Central, Eastern and Mountain Time Zones except for Verizon FiOS headends and areas in the Pacific Time Zone, which still uses four periods at :08 and :38 each hour. This segment also no longer contained more than three periods or "screens" at :28 past each hour during Day Planner weekdays from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Eastern Time (10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Eastern if there is special coverage until September 2009) and during Weekend Now weekends from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. Eastern Time (11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Eastern if there is special coverage until September 2009), or until 3 p.m. Eastern during Day Planner if there is special coverage. This segment was extended until 5 p.m. Eastern Time (6 p.m. Eastern until November 19, 2010, through its current 7 p.m. Eastern Time beginning November 22, 2010 if there is special coverage) beginning September 27, 2010. Four periods are only seen (when a fourth daypart is available) at :28 and :58 past the hour during regular programming. From 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Eastern Time (10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Eastern Time if there is special coverage), a one-minute flavor plays at :08/:38 each hour and :18/48 each hour. At :08/:38 each hour, there is no text-based "Local Forecast". On weekends, it's 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. Eastern Time (11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Eastern Time if there is special coverage). The eight-city current conditions also start off the local forecast at :28 past the hour during Day Planner for weekdays until 2 p.m. Eastern Time (4 p.m. Eastern if there is special coverage) and Weekend Now during weekends until 2 p.m. Eastern Time (5 p.m. Eastern if there is special coverage) only until September 2009. The Current Conditions product used for Verizon FiOS headends is discontinued at :08 and :38 each hour and :18 and :48 each hour and only appears during the short one-minute flavors, although it is still in use in some areas during the two-minute flavors. The Eight-city product will also start off the Local on the 8s at :08 and :38 each hour, rather than :28 and :58 each hour.
July 20, 2009	At :18 and :48 past the hour, the traffic products page (where available) became the first screen before the Current Conditions product, appearing from 6 to 10 a.m. Eastern Time during Wake Up With Al and Your Weather Today (later this was used only at 8:18 a.m. and 8:48 a.m. Eastern beginning in late August 2009), and a 90-second flavor airs at :08/:38 during Wake Up With Al. Later on in September 2009, this was used every week at :48 past the hour during regular programming from 11 a.m. v 2 p.m. Eastern Time (11 a.m. – 3 p.m. Eastern if there is special coverage). This was extended until 5 p.m. Eastern Time (6 p.m. Eastern until November 19, 2010, through 7 p.m. Eastern beginning on November 22, 2010 if there is special coverage) beginning on September 27, 2010 only during Day Planner. For the local forecasts seen at :18/:48 minutes past the hour, the front page Current Conditions screen, eight-city currents screen, and Radar/Satellite products are added. The Weather Bulletins page is moved to just after the traffic products page (where available) on the 90-second flavors at :18/:48 after the hour. This was dropped on March 11, 2010, when the Weather Bulletins page was moved back to its normal placement. The Air Quality screen is moved to just after the eight-city currents before the radar on the :18/:48 90-second flavors. This was dropped in mid-August, when the Air Quality screen was moved back to its normal placement.
September 17, 2009	Normal local forecast lengths have resumed during the 10 a.m. Eastern Time to 2 p.m. Eastern Time time period weekdays, meaning all local forecasts at :18/:48 are once again 90-second flavors, and all local forecasts at :08/:38 are once again two minute flavors. This was only a one-day change. However, it returned for good on September 28, 2009. This has resumed during the 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern Time period as well during the weekends. The eight-city current conditions also starts off the local forecast at :28 past the hour only during weekdays until 2 p.m. Eastern during Day Planner (or until 3 p.m. Eastern if there is special coverage). This was extended until 5 p.m. Eastern Time (6 p.m. Eastern until November 19, 2010, through 7 p.m. Eastern beginning on November 22, 2010 if there is special coverage) beginning on September 27, 2010.
March 11, 2010	New icons which based on the weather.com website are debuted on all IntelliStar units, and are used during both "Local on the 8s" and on the LDL. The new icons resemble the original 2006 design though are now animated on the LDL and feature a modified sun design and altered precipitation animations, though the modified sun design and cloud texture is partially similar to the icons used on the Weather Star 4000. The "Fog" icon became worded in the entire local forecast. The "Windy" icon is not worded in any of the Current Conditions products, but it is worded in the Forecast Map products. The Lower Display Line (LDL) is changed, though the previous LDL design with modified icons and with the Star ID number remains in use during "Local on the 8s". Two versions of the LDL are used that alternate every three hours during programming. The following changes have occurred: The first new LDL debuted which displays local data during national programming, displaying the current temperature and sky conditions, and two-day forecast for 50 U.S. cities. A second, larger version of the redesigned LDL debuted during Day Planner which takes up the bottom third of the screen, the largest LDL used by any Weather Star system, and displays the current temperature and sky conditions, and five-day forecast for 50 U.S. cities over the national feed, and current conditions and forecasts for three cities on the local feed. Both use a blue background with shaded yellow tabs, and a hole for insertion of program information or sponsor tags; the left third of the LDLs are left blank and a scroll-up effect started to be used. Similarly-designed LDLs also debut for local feeds that removes the tab functions on the smaller LDL, though a tab function is used on the smaller LDL aired on the national feed. The tab function remains on the larger version of the LDL. The travel forecasts, almanac, air quality and traffic information are dropped (with traffic information being relegated to the "Local on the 8s" segment, and for all products mentioned marking the first time none of these products are on the LDL since they were originally added; for the monthly precipitation, it marks the first time that it has not been included on the LDL as that field has been used on all LDLs since the original Weather Star system). The redesigned LDL aggregates the forecast information for the main reporting station and areas nearby to being displayed along with the current conditions for those areas. The current temperature at the top right of the bar, which on the 1/3-height LDL's time tab overhangs the tab due to the font size being bigger on the larger LDL, now changes for each city displayed instead of showing the current temperature for the main reporting station throughout. A descriptive 36-hour forecast similar to that seen on "Local on the 8s" but with the specific forecast sky condition in a larger Helvetica Condensed font above the description, graphical six-hour and five-day forecasts, a three-hour local radar loop and a five-hour regional radar/satellite loop (for the Eastern and Central U.S., or a satellite loop in the Western U.S., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands) are added. A descriptive Weather Bulletin also similar to that seen on "Local on the 8s" when issued is introduced. Slide-down effects are used on both versions of the LDLs to cue commercial breaks and segment starts on the local feeds. The time tab or Star ID number on this version of the LDL is absent on both versions, and the fonts are different on the local and national versions of the LDL, Helvetica Regular and Helvetica Condensed for the local LDL and Helvetica Regular and DIN 1454 for the national LDL. National Sponsors have been added during national programming on the LDL before the commercial breaks, though these are sparingly used. Old warning crawls remained in use, much like with the previous LDL update in June 2008. However, they are overlaid on the LDL, as evidenced when the warning crawl and the 1/3-length LDL are shown on the screen simultaneously. The L-Bar is once again discontinued.
March 13–15, 2010	During primetime programming, the local LDL appeared without overlaying the national LDL, revealing that the local LDLs actually take up only the rightmost 75% of the screen. When the national LDL was cued, the local LDLs did not appear at all at times. The national LDL did not appear at times during the presentation of Surviving the Elements: Tornado on March 13. During the weekend edition of PM Edition, the ¼-screen height local LDLs were displayed while the small 1/3 national LDLs were cued at times. These were all reported as errors.
March 16, 2010	A time clock has been added on the LDL for all cable and satellite headends, and is located on the bottom left hand corner during national programming, and switches between Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific times, instead of the local LDL displaying the local time (this has been identified as an error on the local IntelliStars). Unlike the previous version of the LDL, the time and temperature are now in different positions on the LDL, with the current temperature on the top right portion. The time clock displayed on the national LDL is incorrect however, with the displayed time being one minute ahead (this was reported as an error and later corrected).
March 27, 2010	Due to issues on the part of Traffic Pulse, all traffic overview maps in all markets have been removed.
April 14, 2010	The IntelliStar's local time is once again next to the temperature on the LDL, however, the time is displayed in a smaller font than that of the temperature. The current temperature on the yellow bar on the ¼-height LDL is also decreased in size to fit the area of the LDL it is on. In some areas, some cities shown in the Getaway Forecast were changed.
May 19, 2010	All traffic products were removed from the IntelliStar for unknown reasons.
May 25, 2010	The Traffic Flow and Traffic Report pages return to the STAR after a six-day hiatus.
September 2010	The "Not Available" icon is added only when sky conditions are not reported in the entire local forecast. The 1/3 length LDL was removed for unknown reasons. However, as of October 3, 2010, it was restored as part of its new "Local on the 8s" L-bar for long-form programming such as "Storm Stories".
December 8, 2010	New flavor lineups debut on all units. All traffic products are removed after TWCs agreement with Traffic Pulse is allowed to lapse. The Front Page Current Conditions segment once again starts all flavors. More Regional Conditions and Regional Forecast maps featured on the two-minute flavors. More eight-city Current Conditions featured at every hour during the two-minute flavors. The Weather Bulletins page remained the first screen, when active preempting the entire local forecast instead of after seeing the Front Page Current Conditions product as before. The School Day Weather and Outdoor Activity Forecast products are discontinued on most units, however, it remained in use at :08/:38 each hour only on units without the Marine Forecast and Tides products in coastal areas, and even elsewhere if no other screens are available. The Daypart Forecast is discontinued on most united that have Marine Forecast and Tides products in coastal areas, however, it is still in use elsewhere only if no other screens are available. The Metro Conditions and Metro Forecast maps only appear during the 90-second flavors, with the exception of Metro Conditions map at :18/:48 each hour during normal programming and can only appear during Wake Up With Al at :18/:48 each hour, Your Weather Today at 8:18 a.m. Eastern Time and 8:48 a.m. Eastern Time, :48 each hour during Day Planner until 5 p.m. Eastern Time (7 p.m. Eastern, if there is special weather coverage), during Weekend Now until 2 p.m. Eastern (3 p.m. Eastern, if there is special weather coverage), :18/:48 each hour during Weather Center beginning on January 31, 2011, and :18/:48 each hour during normal programming beginning on March 14, 2011. Although, the Metro Forecast map still appears at :08/:38, only on units without the Marine Forecast and Tides products in coastal areas, as well as in the Pacific areas at :28/:58 each hour, and even elsewhere if no other screens are available. The "Local Forecast" segment with four periods once again return on the two-minute flavors, along with the 90-second flavors.
February 5, 2011	The squeezeback that displays local information returns. The classic "4-note" signature chime also returned at the premiere of a beta test to the national version, which appeared during the regular long-form programming block from 5 to 7 p.m. Eastern, but was preempted a week prior to the proposed "Prime for Excitement" launch. However, during the beta test, the local LDLs still shut off.
May 25, 2011	The national LDL for satellite viewers is discontinued during the "Local on the 8s" segment due to the update of the new satellite local forecast maps and graphics, which uses a built-in LDL.
July 21, 2011 (July 25 on some IntelliStars)	New flavor lineups debut on some IntelliStars. The eight-city Current Conditions segment, Regional Conditions and Regional Forecast maps, which as featured on the two-minute flavors were removed on some IntelliStars and were replaced with Metro Conditions and Metro Forecast maps on all flavors. The Getaway Forecast segment only appears at :28 each hour, except from 4–6 a.m. Eastern Time on weekdays and 4 a.m. – 2 p.m. and 4–5 p.m. Eastern on weekends (4 a.m. – 7 p.m. Eastern on weekends, if there is special weather coverage). Almanac only appears at :18 and :48 each hour. Tides and Marine Forecast (in coastal areas) were moved to :28 and :58 each hour. More Daypart Forecast segment is featured on the two-minute flavors.
July 26, 2011	Text messages were added at the bottom of the 7-Day Forecast. The text cycles between "In-depth analysis and detailed local forecasts are available now at weather.com", "For all of your outdoor activity conditions and forecasts, visit weather.com for details", "Have a question or comment regarding the Local On The 8's? Go to weather.com/local", and "Detailed travel weather forecasts and conditions available now at weather.com". For severe weather alerts in certain areas, the box is shaded in red for any certain day, and the text cycle is "Potential for severe thunderstorms/heavy rainfall/flooding rains (name of the day). Additional details available now on weather.com" from the red box at the bottom. For any tropical system that threatens a given area, the text cycle is "Tropical Storm/Hurricane conditions possible (name of the day). Additional details available now on weather.com", and "Watching the Tropics (name of the day). Additional details available now on weather.com". For winter weather alerts in certain areas, the text cycle is "Potential for up to (X) inches of snow (name of the day). Additional details available now on weather.com", "Potential for significant/heavy snowfall (name of the day). Additional details available now on weather.com", and "Blizzard conditions possible (name of the day). Additional details available now on weather.com". Some IntelliStars, however, did not receive this update.
August 1, 2011	The specialized L-bar previously seen during long-form programming and special extended weather coverage in specialized "Local on the 8s" forecasts at or around :08/:38 and :18/:48 minutes past the hour was removed; the Lower Display Line is no longer cued at the start of each segment during long-form shows and extended weather coverage as well, and was limited to the specialized "Local on the 8s" forecasts (a translucent Weather Channel logo bug, previously seen only during airings of From the Edge with Peter Lik, is instead displayed at other times during such programs).
August 17, 2011	The Getaway Forecast, which as featured at :28 each hour during Wake Up with Al, Your Weather Today, Day Planner and Weather Center Live, and :58 minutes past each hour during long-form programming is discontinued.
September 5, 2011	The eight-city Local Observations, Getaway Forecast, Regional Conditions and Regional Forecast are restored.
December 19, 2011	60-second local forecasts start airing at :18 and :48 past the hour during Day Planner and Weather Center Live.
March 3, 2012	The squeezeback that displays local L-bar returns again, and only appears at :08/:38 each hour during Day Planner (until March 26, 2012), Weather Center Live, and every 30 minutes each hour with a Live Weather Update during long-form programming. The following changes were made: The ad crawl, which as seen during "Local on the 8s" is shown at the bottom of the screen, when active. The Hour-by-Hour Forecast is discontinued. The Local Forecast is reduced from three screens to two. The 7-Day Forecast is changed to a 5-Day Forecast.
May 2, 2012	The text cycle at the bottom of the Extended Forecast is updated as "Get your personalized weather at the new weather.com; now more local, social, and relevant!" This is the only text shown at the bottom thanks to a refreshed weather.com. Severe weather text pages (with specific name of the day) remains shown at the bottom as before.
May 22, 2012	90-second local forecast flavors are now featured during :28/:58 minutes past each hour during Day Planner and Weather Center Live. 60-second flavors also now appear at :18/:48 after the hour during both shows, while Day Planner also uses the 60-second flavor during :08/:38 past each hour (Weather Center Live still uses the L-shaped squeezeback local forecasts featured at :08/:38 minutes past each hour). 90-second local forecast flavors also display in all flavors weekdays from 4:00 to 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time during First Outlook, and weekends from 4:30 to 11:00 a.m. Eastern during Weekend View. Though, the two-minute flavors still air weekdays from 6:00 to 11:00 a.m. Eastern at :28/:58 (until November 9, 2012), and at 4:28 a.m. Eastern after The Weather Classroom.
November 12, 2012	The 60-second flavor now appears in all cases weekdays from 4:00 to 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time (as well as Weather Center Live beginning February 18, 2013, and then later during Day Planner beginning April 1, 2013) due to the new weekday programming lineup.
November 20, 2012	The "weather.com" text which had been used underneath The Weather Channel logo is discontinued.
January 27, 2013	The station ID segment seen at :57 past the hour, during which identifies the cable provider, channel number, and ID number (all of which were generated by the IntelliStar) is discontinued for unknown reasons. This change also affected the IntelliStar 2 as well as all of the legacy STAR units (Weather Star XL, 4000 and Jr.).
April 6, 2013	The last two remaining two-minute LFs that appear following "The Weather Classroom" as well as the 90-second LF flavors are discontinued in all cases. The 60-second flavors that are shown all day weekdays are now shown on the weekends, which causes many products to be discontinued.
September 8, 2013	The Weather Channel logo color on the LDL becomes orange as part of Share Our Strength's "No Kid Hungry" campaign, for which many cable networks turned their logos orange in observance of September being Hunger Awareness Month.
November 12, 2013	The IntelliStar receives its third major graphics revision. The changes include new flatter icons, new backgrounds which rotate every so often, and the introduction of a time bar on the "Local on the 8s" segments to display the length of each product and up to three segments that follow the one being shown at the bottom of the screen in lieu of an LDL. A summary product also debuts at the end of forecast segments showing the current observations and a daypart forecast. The Lower Display Line is also overhauled, and is now displayed constantly, even during commercial breaks (however, it no longer appears during the "Local on the 8s" segments); the warning crawls, now displaying a smaller font, is now placed above the national news crawl which becomes a permanent feature of TWCs information display. All changes conform to The Weather Channel's "Weather All The Time" campaign. The basemaps receive an overhaul after more than nine years of use, to a more flat design than the previous topographic layout. The "Haze" icon becomes fully worded again after not being worded since the icon update in December 2006. "Windy" reappears on all icons again, but is shown as a symbol, and not worded. Vocal Local is disabled. National sponsors no longer appear during the local forecast segment.
December 17, 2013	Allen Jackson's Vocal Local narration returns to the IntelliStar after a near-month-long hiatus. The sound effects during the text-based local forecast have also returned after a 3 ½-year hiatus. The Vocal Local narration will sometimes be interrupted while reading the continuous text-based local forecasts as the page turns to the next page. This was reported as an error.
Late January 2014	The forecast sound effects are once again disabled.
Late February 2014	The vocal local narration interruption error is fixed.
April 1, 2014	The time and temperature rotates once again on the LDL.
July 24, 2014	Traffic returns to the LDL for many major cities after nearly a three-year hiatus.
October 21, 2014	Summary and analog clock products are removed during Local on the 8s with some graphical changes. The 36-hour detailed forecast returns after nearly a year of absence. The rundown at the bottom of the forecast is changed to only show 3 segments instead of 4. At the end of the local forecast, the hashtag "#It'sAmazingOutThere" is displayed. If a severe weather product or statement is in effect, "For more information, stay on The Weather Channel" is displayed instead. This change also occured on the IntelliStar 2 HD and 2 Jr.
November 6, 2014	National sponsors reappear on the Local Forecast segment after almost a year of absence. Unlike the original sponsors, each sponsor gets its own unique background with the sponsor logo in the lower-right corner.
Early 2015	The alert tone for the warning crawl has been changed to match the IntelliStar 2 and IntelliStar 2 Jr. Also, the radar receives an update adding translucent white boxes behind city names. This now matches the satellite LF.
November 16, 2015	The domestic IntelliStar is officially retired by The Weather Channel after nearly 12 years of service, and is officially replaced by the IntelliStar 2 xD or IntelliStar 2 Jr.
December 12, 2022	The last IntelliStar units that are used to generate products for Weatherscan are retired, after nearly two decades of service on the platform. Some cable systems replace Weatherscan with another locally generated weather product from a competing vendor, while others replace the channel space with notices, re-use the channel space for another competing weather network, or de-activate it completely.

External links

• This article was originally retrieved from the "IntelliStar" article on Wikipedia, which is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

See also

• Weather Star 4000
• Weather Star XL
• Weather Star
• Weatherscan