User:Ccc/wxscanoverhaul

For the hardware used to generate the network from 1999 to 2004, see Weather Star XL. For the hardware used to generate the network from 2004 to 2022, see IntelliStar.

Weatherscan

Weatherscan IntelliStar, as it appeared from 2016-2022
Country	United States
Broadcast area	United States (specific to specific areas served by remaining cable providers)
Headquarters	Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Programming
Language(s)	English
Picture format	480i
Ownership
Owner	Landmark Communications (1998–2008) Weather Group Television, LLC (2008–2018) (consortium owned by NBCUniversal (Comcast, The Blackstone Group and Bain Capital) Allen Media Group (2018–present)
Sister channels	The Weather Channel The Weather Channel en Español Local Now Entertainment Studios Networks
History
Launched	July 28, 1998 (1998-07-28), national feed; March 31, 1999 (1999-03-31), localized version
Closed	December 12, 2022 (2022-12-12)
Former names	Weatherscan Local (1999-2004)

Weatherscan was a sister network offered by The Weather Channel (TWC) from 1998 until 2022. Weatherscan featured uninterrupted local weather information in graphical format on a continuous loop. From 1999 to 2022, all content was produced by a separate Weather Star unit at the cable company's headend, and, unlike The Weather Channel, Weatherscan did not feature on-air talent of any kind.

At its peak in the late 2000s, Weatherscan was once available in many top markets around the United States, though its availability was less than that of TWC. At the time, many cable companies offered Weatherscan on their digital cable lineup, although a few companies provided the channel on their basic cable lineup, on which The Weather Channel was also offered.

On September 12, 2022, it was announced by a letter from Weather Group Television to the National Cable Television Cooperative stated the company's intention to discontinue the Weatherscan service entirely on or before December 9, 2022. Nonetheless, a Weatherscan IntelliStar unit in Beckley, WV, on December 10, 2022, mentioned that the nationwide shutdown for the last remaining Weatherscan units was scheduled for December 12, 2022.

History

Pre-launch and planning

The Weather Channel first announced plans to launch a brand-new sister channel as early as March 1998 as its first ever expansion to digital cable to provide its own customized weather forecasts. At the time, The Weather Channel partnered with TCI (Tele-Communications Incorporated), which was then the largest cable company in the U.S. in 1998. TCI deployed an early digital cable service known as "HITS" ("Headend In The Sky") in mid-1998. The finalized branding was not reviled until May 1998, when The Weather Channel first announced the name Weatherscan by The Weather Channel and a finalized launch date was announced for July 28, 1998. Originally, Weatherscan had a nationalized feed (see below) without any local forecast inserts as the channel focused on region-by-region forecast on a series of regional maps as the development of the Weather Star XL was still ongoing until the end of 1998. By March 28, 1999, The Weather Channel announced its first ever localized version of Weatherscan along with five additional weather services.

Localized launch

The first ever localized version of Weatherscan launched on March 31, 1999. Originally, Weatherscan was composed five distinct services available to local cable companies to choose for local weather information, all of which utilized the network's Weather Star XL localization technology: Weatherscan Local, Weatherscan Radar, Weatherscan Plus, Weatherscan+Traffic, and Weatherscan Español. Weatherscan Local, the base version, featured a two-minute core package of local weather information and was distinguished by an orange and purple sunset background and a single looping music track. Weatherscan Radar featured the same graphics and music track as Weatherscan Local but only featured a continuous Doppler radar loop and weather warnings and advisories. Weatherscan Plus, which released on April 30, 1999, was a more advanced service that featured optional activity-specific forecast packages for golf, skiing, boating, beachgoing, and business and leisure travel, a variety of background image theme choices, and a more varied playlist of background music tracks composed by Trammell Starks. Weatherscan+Traffic included all of the features of Weatherscan Plus in addition to traffic information, while Weatherscan Español was a Spanish-language version of Weatherscan Plus allowing regional or international weather information. Weatherscan+Traffic and Español launched at the same time on May 31, 1999.

Weatherscan logo from 1999-2004, using the Weatherscan Local branding.

Despite the distinctions between these choices, by around 2000, all of these services were offered under the single name of Weatherscan Local. Sometime around 2000, video evidence suggests that the five separate services offered under the Weatherscan Local name were most likely merged into the Weatherscan Plus package, with the base version of Weatherscan Local and Weatherscan Radar being phased out around or prior to that year and the other services being all offered as part of the Plus package. One YouTube user, however, commenting on a recording of early Weatherscan Local, suggested that Weatherscan Radar may have existed as a separate service until at least 2003 because the user's local Weatherscan Star XL only showed a Doppler radar loop.

In 2003, Weather Star XL units for Weatherscan were replaced by IntelliStar units.

At its peak, Weatherscan was found in many major markets around the United States, though its availability was never as widespread as that the main network. Many cable providers offered Weatherscan on their digital tiers, although a few providers carried Weatherscan on their basic tier (where TWC is also offered). On June 29, 2011, Dish Network became the first and only satellite provider to add Weatherscan in selected markets until June 2015. The carriage of Weatherscan on Dish Network was only available in the Oklahoma City, OK, Phoenix, AZ, Salt Lake City, UT, and Tuscon, AZ, media markets.

Verizon FiOS dropped Weatherscan (on channel 49), along with parent network TWC, from its lineup from March 9 to March 10, 2015, after the two parties were unable to come to terms on a new carriage agreement. The service was replaced by a local WeatherBug "widget" in some markets. No public announcement was made regarding this issue until over 12 hours after the discontinuation. Verizon said that its reason for dropping such services was because many customers turn to the internet and mobile apps for weather any time of day. This makes Weatherscan widely absent in one of the top 5 markets, especially where cable clusters don't carry this network.

Little had been done to update Weatherscan after 2006, but the network was still being offered to cable companies until the mid-2010s in spite of this. Comcast (Xfinity) began to drop the channel from its cable systems in October 2017 and fully removed it by December 10th of the same year. Most of the last remaining providers were scheduled to remove Weatherscan by its shutdown on December 12, 2022, due to The Weather Channel's decision to discontinue the service.

Hardware

Main article: IntelliStar

Weatherscan ran on a first-generation IntelliStar unit, a custom computer solution used by The Weather Channel for display of local weather information which is installed at local cable companies. It differs primarily from the IntelliStar units formerly used for The Weather Channel network proper, referred to as domestic IntelliStar units, because of its custom software used for generating the content seen on Weatherscan. Remaining Weatherscan IntelliStar units were the last of the original IntelliStar units, as domestic IntelliStar units were retired in favor of the models of the IntelliStar 2 (especially the IntelliStar 2 xD and Jr.) on November 16, 2015.

The IntelliStar unit used by Weatherscan was configured differently than the domestic units, featuring different graphics, additional weather products, and continuous 24/7 runtime. A different set of Vocal Local narrations from those used on domestic IntelliStar units introduces several segments, including "Your current conditions," "The local doppler radar," and "Your local forecast." Unlike those from the domestic IntelliStar 1, Weatherscan's narrations were originally voiced by Amy Bargeron until November 10, 2015, when the narration was phased out on most regular segments, while severe weather narrations from long time TWC Storm Analyst Jim Cantore were added along with an updated warning tone to match with that of the IntelliStar 2 line. These severe weather narrations were added due to the FCC requiring critical severe weather alerts to be read aloud, which the IntelliStar was incapable of due to its lack of secondary audio program (SAP) support.

First-generation IntelliStar units as a whole, but especially those remaining in official service that solely ran Weatherscan prior to its shutdown, are beginning to feel the effects of slowly failing capacitors, due to their motherboards being manufactured during the capacitor plague era in the early 2000s. As a result, most Weatherscan IntelliStar units that were still remaining in the field at the time of the channel's existence were not expected to remain alive in the next few years. To fix this issue would require the recall of all remaining units and installation of new capacitors in each, an action which The Weather Channel did not take.

In late 2021, Wyandotte Connex revealed that The Weather Channel had stopped providing support or replacement Weatherscan IntelliStar units to cable providers, signaling the gradual end of the service, which would later be revealed as occurring in December 2022. The last few remaining providers that still had working Weatherscan IntelliStar units continued to operate them regardless of support status prior to Weatherscan's shutdown.

Graphics Scheme

2003-2005

When Weatherscan was launched on the IntelliStar platform, it received an entirely new graphical design heavily featuring the color blue, with accents around the border varying by segments (yellow for local forecasts, orange for traffic, blue for travel and airport, green for garden and golf, teal for health, purple for ski & snow). The only deviation from this was during "severe weather mode" when an active warning was in place for all or part of the unit's served area. This package swapped blue with yellow accents for gray with red accents.

The main typeface switched from Akzidenz-Grotesk to Frutiger. Background images were changed from a neighborhood scene to a city scene for forecast segments. This graphical scheme re-introduced a title/copyright screen that was unseen since around 2000. The screen features an image of the main reporting site's skyline with "weatherscan" rendered in blue Frutiger typeface. The Weather Channel logo dissolves into the bottom right with the cable affiliate's logo in the upper right opposite the text "Weatherscan is only available on [name of cable affiliate]." This text then dissolves to the copyright tag "© [year] The Weather Channel, Inc. All Rights Reserved." For rural areas, the background image for this screen features a white picket fence in a neighborhood scene.

The entire screen was in a faux-letterbox style, with black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. The top of the screen featured rudimentary observation and forecast data in yellow Frutiger and Frutiger Light font with the cable affiliate logo on the upper right-hand portion of the screen. The bottom bar featured the date and time on a blue background above the plain text "weatherscan" logo and next to The Weather Channel logo. To the left of the Weatherscan logo was space for an advertising crawl, which was presented as white Frutiger text. If no advertising crawls were loaded into the system, it simply displayed "Coming Up Next... [next segment]" in yellow. The only exception is again in "severe weather mode" with a red bar appearing just above the crawl space containing the type of warning with NWS warning text crawling under it. To make more space for crawling the warning, The Weather Channel logo would be removed and the Weatherscan logo would be shifted to the right.

This format went largely unchanged for between approximately 2 and 2½ years.

Weatherscan current conditions display in 2004.

2005-2022

On September 27, 2005, Weatherscan received its last major graphical overhaul. To match TWC's then-current on-screen presentation, the main typeface changed to Interstate. The main panel from the original IntelliStar graphics package is reduced to a smaller but still prominent window in the upper middle of the screen, with most graphical elements inside this remaining the same, including retaining the Frutiger typeface. Above this is a horizontal "rundown" bar featuring the current package being displayed and the next 4-5 products coming up.

Around this, an "L-bar" feature was introduced, including non-stop current conditions for the main observation site (with temperature and icon then other pertinent observation data rotating below) and a long-range three-hour radar loop. Next to this is a horizontal bar alternating between a condensed text-based forecast for the current and next daypart, a graphical daypart forecast and a graphical 5-day forecast. On the lower third of the screen, next to the cable affiliate logo (sometimes replaced with logos for advertising businesses) are two crawls stacked on top of one another. The lowermost crawl, featuring black Frutiger typeface on a blue background is an advertising crawl for local businesses. If no businesses advertised, the bar is either left blank or features promotions for programs appearing on The Weather Channel itself. The thinner bar above it features a crawl of local and regional observations and forecasts for the next daypart in white Interstate Condensed font (changed to Interstate Bold in July 2010), as well as local airport observations and delays.

During severe weather mode, the main window still switches to a gray and red color scheme, with the rest of the graphic remaining blue in color. For the duration of the warning (limited to flash flood, severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings), the radar in the L-bar is replaced with an expansion of the current observation data. The main window only shows the metro radar product, alternating every minute with the message "Weatherscan and [name of cable affiliate] bring you this message because of severe weather in your area." The warning text (until 2015, when it was replaced by generic hazard crawls) was featured on a red background replacing the advertising crawl, with the warning product name on the top line. Similar to the Weather Star XL and IntelliStar units seen on The Weather Channel, the alert crawl also had a yellow variant for severe thunderstorm and tornado watches and an orange variant for special weather statements (known after 2010 as "weather statements") and any other NWS advisory that was not otherwise covered.

The Weather Channel logo (until April 2016) and the Weatherscan logo (now rendered in blue lowercase Interstate Bold) were featured in the upper left next to the date and time, which were stacked atop one another. The clock also featured seconds for the first time since the end of the XL-era.

Only slight graphical updates have been made since the introduction of this graphical scheme. When The Weather Channel switched to a new icon package in December 2006, the upper-right corner of the L-bar current observation block was changed to dark blue. Weatherscan switched to The Weather Channel's next icon package in March 2010 as well, which it continues to use today. After The Weather Company's purchase by a consortium headed by NBCUniversal in 2008, The Weather Channel logo would switch from blue to green in accordance with NBCUniversal's "Green is Universal" campaign, typically twice per year: the week of Earth Day in April and a week in November. This practice ended in 2016 when The Weather Channel logo was removed and also after when NBCUniversal sold its joint stake of The Weather Channel and Weatherscan.

Packages

Weatherscan had a variety of segments that show different information regarding the weather. Packages were changed each season with no set date, as they are manually sent by Star team technicians. There is no known pattern for when the packages change, as they do not follow the meteorological or calendar start or end dates of the seasons. Cable operators have the ability to customize what packages are shown and as such not all packages are available in all areas.

Packages on Weatherscan include:

Local Forecast	The local forecast is the segment is near universally featured on all units. Comes in two flavors (product lineups): normal one minute segments (current conditions, local radar, daypart forecast and 5-day forecast, with occasional uses of the almanac and 36-hour forecast) and two minute segments occurring around every quarter hour (location identifier, current conditions, 8-city observations, local radar, 36-hour forecast, 5-day forecast and almanac). This package is mainly used for one city, but on some Weatherscans there are multiple forecast segments for multiple cities served by the headend.
Local Radar	The local radar segment shows the local doppler radar looping continuously for one minute. Originally the only location of the metro radar product.
Airport Conditions	The airport segment shows local airport delays and weather conditions for two airports in the headend's metropolitan area. It also has a list of delays for major airports throughout the nation. This is one of the segments that most Weatherscans carry.
Travel Forecast	This segment is ideal for individuals who plan to travel. The travel segment shows regional forecast maps and a three day forecast for select cities nationwide. As with the airport segment, travel is one of the most common segments on Weatherscan.
International Forecast	People who plan to travel around the globe can watch the international forecast for weather for select cities worldwide.
Weather and Your Health	"Weather and Your Health" displays a variety of health-related forecasts, including air quality, ultraviolet index, and sun safety information.
Ski and Snow (seasonal)	The skier's forecast shows a list of ski resorts and their conditions throughout the country for those who plan to hit the slopes. It also includes a snowfall forecast map.
Golf Forecast (seasonal)	The golfer's forecast includes the forecast for golf courses and resorts as well as a golf index and a tee time forecast.
Garden (seasonal)	This package contains information for lawn and gardening activities. It includes a precipitation forecast map and a Palmer Drought Severity Index map.
Boat and Beach (seasonal)	"Boat and Beach" is only available for select headends in coastal locations. It includes marine forecasts, tidal information, and surf reports.
Traffic Report (2005-2010)	Only the top DMAs carried traffic information on Weatherscan. This package includes local traffic delays and traffic flow. This product was discontinued in 2010 as The Weather Channel allowed their contract with provider Traffic Pulse to expire. This change also affected domestic IntelliStars.

Timeline

Note: "Domestic IntelliStar" refers to IntelliStar units that output content for the main TWC feed.

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.

Early 2004

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

Early-mid August 2004

• Weatherscan's font becomes bolder.
• A fade in-fade out effect was 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 has been fixed so it does not skip and is also 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, 2004

• Cox Communications reaches a carriage deal for Weatherscan in Byan/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.

February 17, 2005

• 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 have been replaced with new ones. Existing tracks were 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, 2005

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

July 2005

• A "traffic report" was 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. Also, a 1-minute-long local radar segment has been added to Weatherscan units nationwide.

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

September 27, 2005

• Weatherscan receives a bold new look in accordance with The Weather Channel's new logo and graphics. An "L-bar" was 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.
  • Note: Areas that were in Hurricane Rita's path received this Weatherscan update about a week earlier.
• More narration is added to Weatherscan, such as narration to the local radar, traffic segment, among other segments.

December 2005

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

March 2006

• More songs are removed, and more new ones have been added to Weatherscan.

April 2006

• HiRAD technology begins to be introduced into some Weatherscan units.

May 12, 2006

• Cox Communications reaches a carriage deal of Weatherscan in New Orleans. This carriage deal was 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 reached up to 23 million cable subscribers.

August 2006

• 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, 2006

• Weather icons that have been in use on Weatherscan from 1999-2006 were 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").

Weatherscan as seen prior to March 11, 2010

January 23, 2007

• As with the domestic IntelliStar, the Weatherscan radar has been changed. "Light" and "Heavy" changed to "rain," and "mix" and "snow" were added. The color key was removed from the mini radar in the corner of the screen.

May 22, 2007

• 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, 2007

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

November 5, 2007

• Several new songs were added to the music loop.

February 2009

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

Current Weatherscan design, before TWC logo removal.

March 11, 2010

• New icons which are featured or based on the weather.com website was debuted on Weatherscan.

May 24, 2010

• 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, 2010

• The font on the regional cities' ticker is changed from Interstate Condensed to Interstate Bold.

December 2010

• The Weather Channel's contract with Traffic Pulse expired and was not renewed, resulting in traffic products being permanently removed.

June 29, 2011

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

March 5, 2015

• The National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC) renews its deal with both The Weather Channel and Weathescan.

March 9, 2015

• 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, 2015

• Weatherscan is dropped from Dish Network in all markets.

November 10, 2015

• 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.

March 29, 2016

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

May 14, 2016

• Cox Communications discontinues carriage of Weatherscan in all markets.

July 2016

• 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.
• Weather Bulletin advisories are now read out loud.

March 2017

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

September-December 2017

• Xfinity gradually discontinues carriage of Weatherscan in all markets.

May 1, 2022

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

November 17, 2022

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

December 5, 2022

• Mediacom discontinues carriage of Weatherscan.

December 12, 2022

• Weatherscan was discontinued from all remaining operators, thus marking the permanent retirement of Weatherscan after 19 years of service (23 years overall to include its predecessor, Weatherscan Local).

Last Known Remaining Units Prior to Shutdown

As market demands changed in the field of weather information throughout the middle-to-late 2010s, carriage of Weatherscan has slowly dwindled. The channel at this point was mostly carried on smaller-to-mid-sized cable affiliates outside of the largest media markets prior to its shutdown. As of July 2022, these were the last known providers that still carried the channel, which was discontinued on December 12, 2022.

Known Remaining Units Prior to Shutdown

ID#	Location	Affiliate	Channel	Notes
025137	College Station, TX	Suddenlink (Now Optimum TV)	378	Presumably still in operation because it is listed on Suddenlink's channel lineup. Currently airing the local forecast, metro radar, travel, airport and golf (seasonal) packages.
026963	Mattoon, IL	Consolidated Communications	144	While it is not listed on Consolidated Communications' website, it is still in operation as of September 1, 2021. Airs local forecasts for Mattoon, Taylorville, Litchfield, Effingham, and the surrounding areas. Also contains radar, travel, and airport packages.
041152	Portland, OR	Ziply Fiber	49	Still in operation as of November 1, 2022. Airs local forecasts for Portland and McMinnville. Also contains radar, travel, and airport packages.
Unknown	Austin, TX	Grande Communications	24	Still in operation because it is listed on Grande Communications' channel lineup.
Unknown	Beckley, WV	Suddenlink Communications	378	Still in operation as of July 21, 2022. Contains local forecasts for Beckley and Kermit, in addition to travel, health, garden, and golf packages. Scheduled to shut down on December 12, 2022.
Unknown	Cedarville, MI	Astrea Connect	7	Listed in channel lineup as of March 2021. Further information is unavailable.
Unknown	Charleston, WV	Suddenlink Communications	378	Still in operation because it is listed on Suddenlink's website. Contains local forecasts for Charleston and Huntington, in addition to radar, airport, and garden packages.
Unknown	Corpus Christi, TX	Grande Communications	3	Still in operation as of September 4, 2021. Airs travel, beach, health, and golf segments. This unit still transmits the pre-2016 era graphics with the TWC logo.
Unknown	Curtis, MI	Astrea Connect	7	Listed in channel lineup as of March 2021. Further information is unavailable.
Unknown	Dallas, TX	Grande Communications	6	Still in operation because it is listed on Grande Communications' channel lineup.
Unknown	Danville, AR	Arkwest Communications	30	Still in operation as of March 25, 2021. Airing local forecast, radar, health, garden, travel, and Spanish packages.
Unknown	Lewiston, MI	Astrea Connect	11	Listed in channel lineup as of December 2021. Further information is unavailable.
Unknown	Mackinac Island, MI	Astrea Connect	7	Still in operation as of September 5, 2021. Airs the local forecast for Mackinac, as well as radar, health, travel, and airport packages.
Unknown	Midland, TX	Grande Communications	22	Still in operation because it is listed on Grande Communications' channel lineup.
Unknown	Odessa, TX	Grande Communications	22	Still in operation because it is listed on Grande Communications' channel lineup.
Unknown	Parkersburg, WV	Suddenlink Communications	378	Still in operation as of July 20, 2022. This unit also features the Amy Bargeron voice and the TWC logo, which appears to be a very recent change. Contains local forecasts for Parkersburg and New Martinsville, as well as radar, health, travel, and airport packages.
Unknown	Rock Hill, SC	Comporium	325	Still in operation as of April 4, 2022. Only airs the local forecast for Rock Hill and the radar segment. Interestingly, the music in the video source appears to different than the normal Weatherscan soundtrack.
Unknown	Rocky Mount, NC	Suddenlink	374	Presumably still in operation because it is still listed on Suddenlink's website. The image in the source is dated to December 24, 2019. According to the image, the unit is airing the local forecast, health and international packages. It can also be presumed that the metro radar package is airing as well among others. A video from this unit, recorded in June 2016 was uploaded on August 14th, 2024. It is still the only footage of this unit in existence.
Unknown	San Antonio, TX	Grande Communications	16	Still in operation because it is listed on Grande Communications' channel lineup.
Unknown	San Marcos, TX	Grande Communications	24	Still in operation because it is listed on Grande Communications' channel lineup.
Unknown	Seattle, WA	Ziply Fiber	49	Still in operation because it is listed on Ziply's channel lineup. Airing local forecasts for both Seattle and Everett, in addition to health and airport packages.
Unknown	St. Joseph, MO	Suddenlink Communcations	378	Presumably still in operation because it is still listed on Suddenlink's website. Contains forecasts for the St. Joseph and Savannah areas, as well as travel and airport packages.
Unknown	Temple, TX	Grande Communications	16	Still in operation because it is listed on Grande Communications' channel lineup.
Unknown	Waco, TX	Grande Communications	16	Still in operation as of September 4, 2019. Airing at least 2 (possibly 3) local city forecasts, metro radar, health, garden (seasonal) and golf (seasonal) packages. Of note, the observation city on the L-bar changes with the forecast package shown.
Unknown	West Jefferson, NC	SkyBest TV	26	Still in operation as of 2021. Airs local forecasts for the West Jefferson area, and forecasts for Banner Elk, Shady Valley, Sparta, and Boone. Also contains health, garden, and international forecast packages. Oddly enough, SkyBest TV lists the channel name as "Local Weather" instead of "Weatherscan."

*Blue Ridge's units, Ephrata and Mount Pocono, PA, were both discontinued on May 1, 2022.

*Frankfort Plant Board Cable's unit, Frankfort, KY, was discontinued on November 17, 2022.

*Mediacom's unit in Millsboro, DE was discontinued on December 5th, 2022.

Trivia

• Until the day the last Weatherscan IntelliStar units were taken offline in December 2022, Weatherscan made reference to We Love Weather, a TWC-run community website that has been inactive since early 2021.
• Amy Bargeron, the voice talent for the Weatherscan IntelliStar's original narrations, produced a variety of other voiceover work for The Weather Channel in the early 2000s. For example, she was the female voice heard during many of the network's station ID segments during its "Live By It" branding era.
• The majority of remaining Weatherscan units were ran by cable companies that are a part of the National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC), which negotiates channel carriage costs for its member companies, among other benefits. When The Weather Channel's current owner, Entertainment Studios, demanded carriage for its other networks on NCTC member companies' lineups in early 2022, the NCTC refused the demand, citing increased carriage costs for the new channels. Because this meant that they were also at risk of losing The Weather Channel and Weatherscan, this led to a weeks-long scare among The Weather Channel's fans that the majority of remaining Weatherscan units could be retired, essentially shutting it down completely. Entertainment Studios and the NCTC eventually negotiated a carriage agreement for several more years, but the channel closed later that year nonetheless.

Gallery

Weatherscan Local base package (Weather Star XL, 1999-2000)

The order of segments is shown from left to right:

• 

  Weatherscan Local intro screen. Optionally, a cable affiliate logo could be added to the Intro screen.

• 

  Weatherscan Local Current Conditions screen.

• 

  Weatherscan Local XL Latest Observations list.

• 

  Weatherscan Local Regional Conditions map.

• 

  Weatherscan Local 36 Hour Forecast screen (typically 2-3 pages long).

• 

  Weatherscan Local Regional Forecast map.

• 

  Weatherscan Local Extended Forecast screen.

• 

  Weatherscan Local Almanac.

• 

  Weatherscan Local radar.

Weatherscan Radar (Weather Star XL, 1999-2003?)

• 

  Weatherscan Radar intro screen. Optionally, a cable affiliate logo could be added to the Intro screen.

• 

  Weatherscan Radar radar screen. Branding may have used the Weatherscan Radar name on the titlebar.

Weatherscan Plus / Español / Traffic (Weather Star XL, 1999-2004)

Core Themes

The order of segments is shown from left to right:

• 

  Up Next, Neighborhood theme.

• 

  Current Conditions, Neighborhood theme.

• 

  Latest Observations (Current Conditions in the title), Neighborhood theme.

• 

  36 Hour Forecast, Neighborhood theme.

• 

  Extended Forecast, Neighborhood theme.

• 

  Almanac, Neighborhood theme.

• 

  Up Next, Urban/City theme.

• 

  Current Conditions, Urban/City theme.

• 

  Latest Observations (Current Conditions in the title), Urban/City theme.

• 

  36 Hour Forecast, Urban/City theme.

• 

  Extended Forecast, Urban/City theme.

• 

  Almanac, Urban/City theme.

• 

  Up Next, Southwest theme.

• 

  Current Conditions, Southwest theme.

• 

  Latest Observations (Current Conditions in the title), Southwest theme.

• 

  36 Hour Forecast, Southwest theme.

• 

  Extended Forecast, Southwest theme.

• 

  Almanac, Southwest theme.

• 

  Current Conditions, Ocean East theme.

• 

  Latest Observations (Current Conditions in the title), Ocean East theme.

• 

  36 Hour Forecast, Ocean East theme.

• 

  Extended Forecast, Ocean East theme.

• 

  Almanac, Ocean East theme.

• 

  36 Hour Forecast, likely from the Ocean West theme.

Note: The "Up Next" screen for the Ocean East theme and all other screens for the Ocean West theme are currently unavailable as these segments were not recorded in archival samples. The Mountain East/West and Forest themes are currently unknown, as there are no available recordings that contain either of these lost themes.

See also

• Star Units used by TWC
• Weatherscan Local

External links

• Weatherscan press page at weather.com