Weather Channel: Locals on the 8's

[jcrandall]

There has been communication about the Local on the 8's coming to DirecTV, something that Cable customers have had for many years, but has never been possible for either Satellite provider.

DirecTV has confirmed (via their magazine) that they are working on launching this on their SD channel only this month.

Satguys has received word that they are working on this for Thursday, Sept 25, starting at 3am ET.

Remember this will be on the SD channel only, channel 362.

UPDATE: 9/29/09 - Local on the 8's is now available on the HD channel as well. (Only took them a year to make it happen)

 

[sundude90]

*9/25/08 Update: These New Features are now working and are Available nationally! See Pg 2 and 3 of this thread for more details!*

Q: What new features from The Weather Channel are now available to viewers of DirecTV?
A: Powered by The Weather Channel’s patented technology and trusted meteorologists, DirecTV viewers will soon have convenient access to the most accurate and up-to-date local weather in three ways:

*On the 8s: For the first time, DirecTV viewers will be able to enjoy a truly local “local on the 8s” which until now has been only available to cable TV subscribers. Presented six times each hour, viewer will get up-to-date details on their current conditions, a radar view of what’s brewing nearby, the seven day forecast and local weather alerts and advisories.
*On Demand: Can’t wait for the 8s? Viewers of The Weather Channel can simply click on the red button on their remote to get a quick menu of interactive weather features, including current conditions, the five day forecast, weather for up to five other saved cities and weather alerts – all while continuing to watch live programming on the same screen.
*On DirecTV “Active”: The Weather Channel is now the featured provider of personalized weather content on the newly designed Active portal. All the content you receive in the On Demand service is also available via this portal.
* DirecTV and The Weather Channel are introducing another innovative interactive feature with this launch: the Weather Alert Tracker. If the National Weather Service issues a warning about a major weather event in your area – including flash flooding, thunderstorm, or a tornado – an interactive alert ticker will appear on The Weather Channel prompting viewers to click the red button on their remote for more details.

All the new features are available only on the “standard definition” version of The Weather Channel (Channel 362). The features are made possible by the same innovative DirecTV technology which has enabled DirecTV viewers to enjoy live interactive sports programming, including the NFL Sunday Ticket, PGA Golf and the U.S. Open and Wimbledon tennis tournaments.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

Thats cool, But thats means if your in Scranton Wilkes barre DMA, Then the local on the 8's would be out of Scranton?
If so thats not the same as cable. Cable has many weather locations within a DMA for the local on the 8's. Stroudsburg, MT Pocono, Just a few examples of local on the 8's Locations within the Scranton Wilkes Barre DMA.
My point is weather in Scranton is Different then Mt Pocono and Stroudsburg. This will be interesting to see.

 

[darrencp22]

This is absolutely useless DirecTV. I wont watch the SD version. Get back to me when it's on the HD channel.

 

[kdarcangelis870]

IMO, it would probably just be for the entire DMA. It would take up waay to much bandwidth to send local on the 8's to thousands of small towns nationwide. But who knows. On my neighbor's fios, his local on the 8's come from Tampa, even though we live in Sarasota and comcast has its own local on the 8's for Sarasota.

 

[sundude90]

Hemi 6.1- i am pretty sure it's going to go by Zip Code, but I'll find out for sure.

DarrenCP22- The HD will come in the future. They don't quite have the technology for that yet. Weather Channel is just getting into the whole HD thing. But you can still use the On Demand(Red Button) and Active Button. Don't worry about the HD, you can still use it.

If you have any questing that you would like me to ask my contact person, please post them here!

Check back here for more infomation. i'll post it more information as soon as I get it.

Thanks,

Josh Clark
(Sundude90)

If

 

[sundude90]

I'll ask about if the Weather goes by Zip Code or DMA's!!

 

[darrencp22]

I don't know how the red button will work, but if it is anything like active, i'll never use it. By the time weather loads I can go upstairs to my pc and get the weather. it's too slow to be useful.

 

[tigerfan33]

I would not get too excited about it. It sounds the same that Dish has or still has with the local on the 8s. There will be a non moving radar of your region of the country. There will be two or three screens that will give you the weather for the day, next day and for several days in advanced. Nothing but a sun logo with clouds on it or rain that will tell you it will rain. I seriously doubt it will be like cable. More likly like Dish.

 

[jcrandall]

It should be very similiar to how Cable has it, which is by market, but not DMA or zip code. Many DMAs have 5-10 smaller cities in them. For example, I live in a town called Morrice, it is very small. I would expect my weather would be for Owosso, a larger town 10 miles from me. I doubt it would be Flint, which is 30 miles from me. Although if it is Flint, it still is close enough to be local. It should not be as large as a DMA though.

It is going to be on just SD to start. They will be working to bring it to HD as well, but no timeline for that.

I'll have to turn off my hide duplicate SD's for a chance to check this out, I hope it is worth the hype (and the technology investment D* had to make to get this feature, which has long been a complaint of people switching from cable to dish).

Thanks again sundude90.

 

[Sancho]

Stupid question, but on the HR-21 is there any way to 'unhide' a single SD duplicate channel while leaving all of the other SD Channels hidden?

Would unhiding the duplicates, adding the SD to my favorites, then re-hiding the dupes work?

 

[jcrandall]

Nope, all or nothing.

You could disable the hide feature and use a favorite list too.

 

[uncrules]

Nope, all or nothing.

You could disable the hide feature and use a favorite list too.

That's what I do. There are too many stretch-o-vision channels so I use the SD version of those channels to watch non HD programming. I hate stretched SD programming.

 

[DJ Matt]

Hmmm. I read something about this on this site a while ago. I would imagine that it will pop on on the HD channel at some point in time too. They will test it out on SD first and then eventually we will see local on the 8's HD.

 

[Stargazer]

It also seems like what Dish has promised and will end up being what Dish is currently offering.

 

[ChrisK114]

It also seems like what Dish has promised and will end up being what Dish is currently offering.

Dish never promised it would be just like cable's local on the 8"s. They always said it would be interactive. An icon would come up during the local's broadcast and you could activate it. Dish never said much more about it beyond that. This is a totally different concept. Good for D*

 

[sundude90]

Thank you for your email message.

Our database includes zip codes for every city location in the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii. Unique zip codes for locations such as office buildings, business, or PO Boxes are not supported for local weather products – and newly assigned zip codes may also not yet be available. The Weather Channel updates its zip code database every three months to accommodate new zip codes.

The satellite application (DirecTV) uses a zip code matching process to determine the best observation location for your zip code. There could be a variation in the weather across the area served by your zip code.

DirecTV has not provided a timeframe for when Local on the 8s and the interactive features will be available on high definition. However, even if you receive a high definition service on DirecTV, you can always tune to the standard definition version of The Weather Channel to enjoy the true local Local on the 8s and the new interactive features.

We are always happy to hear from our viewers and hope you will continue to watch The Weather Channel for many years to come.

Sincerely,

Chris Hoitsma

 

[sundude90]

It's going to go by your ZIP CODE!!! Yeah. And it suppose to be better than cable!!

We will see tomorrow!

Josh

 

[sundude90]

I would not get too excited about it. It sounds the same that Dish has or still has with the local on the 8s. There will be a non moving radar of your region of the country. There will be two or three screens that will give you the weather for the day, next day and for several days in advanced. Nothing but a sun logo with clouds on it or rain that will tell you it will rain. I seriously doubt it will be like cable. More likly like Dish.

Hey tigerfan33, you make it sound like you know what it's going to be like. But at this point no one really knows what it will be like. I will ask to see if its a moving Radar or not and post it here.
Don't assume.

 

[Juan]

Hey tigerfan33, you make it sound like you know what it's going to be like. But at this point no one really knows what it will be like. I will ask to see if its a moving Radar or not and post it here.
Don't assume.

they made similar claims about the e* version but we were sadly disappointed