Timeline of Weatherscan

The following is a timeline of major events involving Weatherscan, The Weather Channel's former 24-hour sister network for localized weather information.

Pre-Weather Star era

1998

Weatherscan's national feed from December 2000. This was how the network first appeared when it debuted in July 1998.

• March: The Weather Channel announces plans to launch a sister channel for customized weather forecasts in partnership with Tele-Communications Incorporated (TCI), at the time the United States' largest cable operator, its first ever expansion to digital cable.
• March 15: TCI announces an expansion of its digital cable video service, Headend in the Sky (HITS). Among the proposals for additions to the service provided to TCI affiliates is The Weather Channel's customized sister channel offering.
• ~May 18-22: TCI unveils its revised digital cable lineup for HITS, to take effect on July 28. The name of The Weather Channel's new offering, Weatherscan by The Weather Channel, is unveiled as it is announced the channel will be a part of the new lineup.
• July 28: Weatherscan by The Weather Channel launches on TCI HITS. At the time, the network solely consists of a national feed consisting of regional forecast information rather than local information, as the Weather Star XL localization platform on which Weatherscan would rely is still under development.
• November: The Weather Channel begins beta testing its Weather Star XL platform for The Weather Channel proper (also known as domestic Weather Star XL systems, as opposed to Weatherscan Weather Star XL systems) on local cable systems.

1999

• March 28: Multichannel News publishes an article which, among other items, notes that The Weather Channel is planning to roll out five localized weather services in addition to its national version of Weatherscan.

Weather Star XL era

1999

Weatherscan Local (top) and Weatherscan Plus (bottom), the two main Star XL-based variants of Weatherscan from 1999 to 2004.

• March 31: The Weather Channel launches two of its five planned localized variants of Weatherscan, utilizing the newly-developed Weather Star XL localization platform.
  • Two options are initially made available to cable affiliates, which are made free for affiliates until 2002:
    • Weatherscan Local
      • Base version of the new localized version of Weatherscan, with a core product loop for local weather conditions and forecasts
      • Features a 2-minute music loop and a single background image
      • Data is transmitted to the Weather Star XL via satellite
    • Weatherscan Radar
      • Variant of Weatherscan Local that solely features a local Doppler radar loop and weather alerts when needed
• April 30: The Weather Channel launches Weatherscan Plus, its more advanced version of Weatherscan Local.
  • Variant of Weatherscan Local that includes the following features and upgrades:
    • Core product for local weather conditions and forecasts
    • optional activity-specific forecast packages for golf, skiing, beach and boating activities, and business and leisure travel
    • Features a variety of background image theme choices based on location
    • Features a more varied playlist of background music tracks composed by Trammell Starks
    • Data is transmitted to the Weather Star XL using an Internet connection
• May 31: The Weather Channel launches two more variants of Weatherscan.
  • Weatherscan+Traffic
    • Variant of Weatherscan Plus which includes a traffic package
  • Weatherscan Español
    • Variant of Weatherscan Plus with a weather conditions and forecasts entirely in Spanish

IntelliStar era

2003

• February 2003: The Weatherscan Local units transition to the IntelliStar platform, nearly a year before TWC rolled it out domestically. This brought with it a major upgrade to the channel:
  • Weatherscan Local has been simplified to "Weatherscan" and has received entirely new graphics, using Frutiger as the flagship typeface. The weather icons once again become animated.
  • A "severe weather mode" was added to Weatherscan during this upgrade. The yellow, blue colors become red and gray, and it only shows the local forecast, and a severe weather message saying "Weatherscan gives you this special message because of severe weather in your area".
  • Weatherscan gets new music, now featuring tracks by unknown production music companies.
  • The Vocal Local narration by Allen Jackson is replaced with female narration by Amy Bargeron.
  • The narration for the 36-hour forecast is changed from "the forecast for your area" to "your local forecast."

• September 2003: Weatherscan exits the beta stage and begins to roll out in selected cable companies.
  • The old Weatherscan XL platforms are gradually replaced with these units over the next year.

Weatherscan as seen from 2003 until September 27, 2005

• November 26, 2003: Comcast in San Francisco reaches a carriage deal of Weatherscan.
  • It was also announced around this time that Comcast would also add Weatherscan in both Stockton, CA and Fresno, CA by the end of November 2003, and announced plans on adding Weatherscan in Macon, GA on December 15, 2003, and in Richmond, VA on December 17, 2003. By year's end, Weatherscan was reached over by 7 million cable subscribers.

2004

• January-August: The first signs of music "skipping" are heard on Weatherscan. Eventually, the music started skipping more often.

• Early-mid August: Various adjustments are made to the audiovisual presentation:
  • Weatherscan's font becomes bolder.
  • A fade in-fade out effect is added in between each day on the 36-hour forecast.
  • The local radar is enhanced, now showing more major roads on the radar, and city identifiers that are closer to the domestic IntelliStar's.
  • The local radar now shows the precipitation's movement within the past three hours instead of two.
  • The music is corrected so it does not skip. Music tracks are remastered in stereo.
  • Some icons, such as "AM Clouds/PM Sun" and the nighttime "Mostly Clear" are updated so they are identical to the icons on the domestic IntelliStar.

• December 16: Cox Communications reaches a carriage deal for Weatherscan in Bryan/College Station, TX.
  • Around this time, Cox also announced that they would add Weatherscan in Tyler, TX, Fort Smith, AR, and Bossier, LA between January and February 2005.

2005

• February 17: Various adjustments are made to forecast products and the audiovisual presentation:
  • The 36-hour forecast now becomes a 48-hour local forecast, now showing the forecast for today up to the next day's night.
  • The point size of the text on the local forecast becomes larger, now bigger than the "Local Forecast" title heading.
  • Some songs on Weatherscan are replaced with new ones. Existing tracks are modified with quicker fade outs.
  • During severe weather mode, Weatherscan now shows only the local radar, weather bulletins (if a weather watch or statement is issued), and the special weather message.
  • The severe weather message is changed to "Weatherscan/[cable affiliate name] bring you this message because of severe weather in your area."

• February 22: Cox Communications completes its expansion of Weatherscan in the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas.
  • At this point, Weatherscan now reaches 22 million cable subscribers through existing carriage deals with Comcast, Insight Communications, and among others.

• July: A traffic report segment is added to Weatherscan's on the top viewing markets such as Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Atlanta, showing the traffic conditions from Traffic Pulse for a city's metropolitan area.
  • A 1-minute-long local radar segment is added to Weatherscan units nationwide.

Weatherscan IntelliStar as seen from September 27, 2005, until December 12, 2006

• September 27: Weatherscan receives a bold new look in accordance with The Weather Channel's new logo and graphics.
  • An "L-bar" is added, that shows instant information to viewers, which is similar to NBC Weather Plus. Current conditions, extended forecast, local radar, and local observations are now shown constantly to the viewer.
  • More narration is added to Weatherscan, such as narration to the local radar, traffic segment, among other segments.
  • Note: Areas that were in Hurricane Rita's path received this Weatherscan update about a week earlier.

• December: A traffic.com advertisement graphic is added at the end of the traffic report segment.
  • The narration for the "Traffic Flow" screen is removed.

2006

• March: More songs are removed, and more new songs are added.
• April: HiRAD technology begins to be introduced into some Weatherscan units.
• May 12: Cox Communications reaches a carriage deal of Weatherscan in New Orleans.
  • This carriage deal is reached because of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina that went through New Orleans on August 29, 2005, and before the start of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season following the previous year's record-breaking hurricane season.
  • At this point, Weatherscan now reaches up to 23 million cable subscribers.
• August: Due to the discontinuation of P. Allen Smith's garden segments on The Weather Channel, the P. Allen Smith advertisement at the end of the garden segment is replaced with a generic weather.com/garden advertisement.
• December 12: Weather icons that have been in use on Weatherscan since 1999 are replaced by more realistic icons.
  • The slashes for phrases such as "Partly Cloudy/Wind" on the extended and daypart forecasts are replaced by commas (e.g., "Partly Cloudy, Wind").

2007

Weatherscan as seen prior to March 11, 2010

• January 23: As with the domestic IntelliStar, the Weatherscan radar receives changes.
  • "Light" and "Heavy" are merged and changed to "rain," while "mix" and "snow" are added. The color key is removed from the mini radar in the corner of the screen.

• May 22: The radar legend now responds to the precipitation type. The snow and mix color keys now only display if frozen precipitation is detected.

• October 24: The Traffic Overview map on Weatherscan units with this segment is updated to match the map on the domestic IntelliStar.

• November 5: Several new songs are added to the music loop.

2009

• February: The WeatherReady logo on the Health and Ski segments receives a slight modification.

2010

Current Weatherscan design, before TWC logo removal.

• March 11: New icons, which are featured or based on those on weather.com, debut on Weatherscan.
• May 24: Shortly after a four-day carriage dispute between The Weather Channel and Dish Network ended, plans for the first ever satellite-delivered version of Weatherscan were announced for Dish Network.
  • However, Weatherscan on Dish Network would only be available in selected markets (see below). The "regionalized" version of Weatherscan would not launch until June 29, 2011.
• July 27: The font on the regional cities' ticker is changed from Interstate Condensed to Interstate Bold.
• December: The Weather Channel's contract with Traffic Pulse expires and is not renewed, resulting in traffic products being permanently removed.

2011

• June 29: Dish Network adds Weatherscan for four regional markets:
  • Phoenix, AZ
  • Salt Lake City, UT
  • Oklahoma City, OK
  • Tuscon, AZ

2015

• March 5: The National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC) renews its deal with both The Weather Channel and Weatherscan.
• March 9: Verizon enters an exclusivity agreement with AccuWeather, resulting in all other weather networks, including Weatherscan, to be dropped. This was the first major provider to drop Weatherscan.
• June 24: Weatherscan is dropped from Dish Network in all markets.
• November 10: Major updates are made to narrations and severe weather products:
  • The original narration track by Amy Bargeron is discontinued on all products. However, the Weather Bulletin product is given a new narration track by Jim Cantore. This gradually expands to narrations for individual products similar to modern TWC Star systems.
  • The severe weather warning text provided by the National Weather Service was discontinued and replaced by generic severe weather warning messages. This essentially has the effect of dropping the yellow and orange crawl variants. The original alert tone dating back to the Weather Star XL era is retired and replaced by the alert tone heard on the IntelliStar 2. New narration tracks from Jim Cantore for flash flood, severe thunderstorm, and tornado warnings are also introduced, matching the generic crawl messages. These changes rare applied due to new FCC regulations requiring critical weather alerts to be read aloud, something the IntelliStar is incapable of given its lack of secondary audio program (SAP) support.

2016

• March 29: Following The Weather Channel's digital assets being acquired by IBM, TWC's logo is removed from Weatherscan.

• May 14: Cox Communications discontinues carriage of Weatherscan in all markets.

• July: Various changes are made to the audiovisual presentation and data sources used:
  • Any additional references of The Weather Channel are dropped in favor for Weather Group Television, a consortium spun off that contains The Weather Company's former television assets.
  • All products that had a section advertising a specific weather.com page was replaced with a generic advertisement for weloveweather.tv
  • The Palmer Drought Severity/Soil Moisture map, previously sourced from NOAA, is replaced with TWC's own Drought Monitor data.
  • A frost/freeze warnings map is added to the Garden segment, airing when applicable.
  • Airport delays source is changed from the FAA to flightaware.com.
  • The Weather Bulletin's source is changed that of the IntelliStar 2 units; previously it pulled the advisory headers from the Zone Forecast Products issued by the National Weather Service.
  • New narrations for Weather Bulletin advisories are released, using Jim Cantore's voice like the newer narrations for weather warnings.

2017

• March: Wintry precipitation color key is added to the Radar/Satellite map.

• September-December: Xfinity gradually discontinues carriage of Weatherscan in all markets.

2022

Weatherscan retirement notice from Xfinity (2017).

Weatherscan retirement notice from Blue Ridge (2022).

• May 1: Blue Ridge drops Weatherscan in both Ephrata, PA, and Mount Pocono, PA, markets.

• October 7: Technology news publication Ars Technica releases an article covering the planned retirement of Weatherscan and fan-led efforts to archive and preserve the software.

• November 17: Frankfort Plant Board Cable in Frankfort, KY, drops Weatherscan, but replaces it with a new, custom locally operated weather station that is powered by The Weather Channel's rival service, AccuWeather.

• December 5: Mediacom discontinues carriage of Weatherscan.

• December 12: Weatherscan is discontinued from all remaining operators, thus marking the permanent retirement of Weatherscan after 23 years of service (and for the Weatherscan IntelliStar specifically, 19 years of service).