Weathernation has me confused!

[radio]

I'm up early during the week working, so I don't check on this, but now two weekends in a row......

Weathernation's HD feed is running "children's" programming, and the SD feed is its usual programming.

I believe the FCC Requires a "certain" amount of educational and informational programming for local TV operators, and I'm not sure to whom
that applies. Am I missing something here? An national all "weather" channel that switches formats? I hope this isn't how they're having to meet government requirements. What a crock that would be! And, putting it on the HD feed, not the SD feed?

Even re-scanned to make sure I had the proper feed. It ID's itself as "Weather Nation HD" Tuned-in to the SD feed this morning.

I'm confused! is it FCC B.S.?????? A shared-time Transponder??? Can't imagine any cable system wanting to carry an up and coming weather channel then in the morning have it change! And, this channel actually talks about WEATHER! What an amazing concept!

 

[Mr Tony]

all channels designated as over the air are required by the FCC to have the 3 hour E/I thing
per wiki
The Federal Communications Commission requires that every full-service Terrestrial television station in the U.S. show at least three hours of these television programs every week. The E/I program requirements were enacted as part of the Children's Television Act of 1990.

Doesnt matter if its WABC in NY or KXGN-DT2 in tiny Glendive, MT. They have to show 3 hours. Even subchannels do. I know we have CoolTV and Country Network as subchannels and both have 3 hours of E/I from 8-11 or maybe 7-10 Saturday morning. Most E/I is Saturday mornings

Weathernation does have affiliates....I know the 24/7 weather thing here in Minneapolis on NBC (KARE-DT2) uses a partial version of it (they mix their local in it too)

 

[radio]

I thought it was tied to the FCC stuff......(I'm extra familiar with radio stuff, not much with TV)....Interesting how they keep one feed on their "core" programming of weather while they do the FCC thing! Guess that's one real PLUS for FTA users vs. carriage (and watching) on any other system!

Wasn't aware of the sub-channel thing....that's going a bit TOO FAR, but then, the FCC people enacting regulations are not programmers, and are great at forcing and ENFORCING rules that make no sense.

Thanks, Iceberg! Much appreciated. Had not run into this on other duplicate feeds before of anything else!

 

[Mr Tony]

I assume the SD feed being 24/7 with no E/I probably has to do with timezones. E/I can't be implemented at say 2AM so most do it between the hours of 7AM and noon (depending on channel). So it would be kinda hard to implement the E/I unless the feed is tape delayed. So I'm just going on a hunch that the SD feed is a backup during the EI time

While I dont mind it, I do think its goofy that every OTA station has to do it even subchannels. So Saturday morning between 7-10 or 8-11 most of the stations I would watch OTA (if I was up) have E/I...and crazy but its the same batch of programs...sometimes just shuffled around

 

[radio]

Agreed! And, perfect logic! Weather would be one kind of station that you really can't delay! Sounds silly to say, but I never thought about that!

 

[Blindowl1234]

And a couple of the weather gals are kinda cute too! lol....Blind

 

[Mr Tony]

after seeing their website yep its the same part time feed we get on the local KARE-DT2 weather
(and I guess because its run by the former KARE weather guy you'd expect it on here)

Only drawback of it (from a local standpoint) is some of it is taped so its grossly outdated. Good example is right now at 1:28PM. The "national" forecast is the same thing I saw at 10:30 this morning and the "local" one (from the KARE weather lady) she shows one of the skycam's and its pitch black out....when the heck was this taped? 7AM?

 

[Dee_Ann]

I've tuned to Weather Nation in the wee hours of the morning and much to my dismay, I discovered they run INFOMERCIALS!!!!!!!

 

[radio]

I've tuned to Weather Nation in the wee hours of the morning and much to my dismay, I discovered they run INFOMERCIALS!!!!!!!

Ya know, That's the sad part about all kinds of broadcasting these days. You need dollars to keep the operation growing, and the dollars don't come easily. Informercials may actually help keep them afloat as they grow. The radio industry does it on Sunday mornings. (we did, when we were new but no longer)....and God knows local TV stations do!

As a "startup" and, going up against the other weather giant, I commend their efforts! And, I think...given enough time, they'll be a good contender! I guess I'd rather have them running overnight infomercials to make money, and then doing a good job of weather the REST of the day.....because, when, in normal hours you want weather and all you can find on the "other" channel is stories and features, it sure would be nice to have an alternative! Competition is good! Let's all keep our fingers crossed that whomever backs them continues to market and let them grow.

I didn't have time to stop and watch, but I swear they were on TV sets for sale in either Meijer or WalMart in Michigan. Do either of those grocery giants have stock in WN? It looked like a specially "Branded" weather product. Saw this sometime before Christmas if memory serves.

 

[Mr Tony]

exactly radio
If you need to show paid programs or infomercials....show them in the weird hours when most folks are sleeping.....yeah I know some people have "weird" sleep schedules....but most folks sleep at 3AM so why not show them?

Heck the local market about 60 miles from me (Mankato, MN) has only 2 stations in the market (KEYC CBS & Fox subchannel) and they still sign off nightly (1:05 M-F and 12:35 weekends). Recently (maybe 3 months ago) on the Directv feed (and assuming Dish and able too) they show paid programs after they turn off the transmitter. Goes like this
sign off
color bars for maybe a minute
transmitter off (from OTA)....D* feed still shows color bars
about a minute later boom a paid program

That runs until about 4:55AM when they sign on (well it goes to color bars, then the sign on then programming which during the week is Shepherd's Chapel). I guess those paid programs are better than 4 hours of color bars

sorry to kinda get off topic

 

[KG4KBU]

What satellite is weathernation on and also do I need a ku or cband satellite. also where is the best place to buy a setup at cheap ?

 

[Frank Jr.]

I have a stand alone OTA ATSC receiver and dedicated monitor that receives an almost 24 hour broadcast of live weather radar. It is received on a sub-channel from a local station. On Saturday mornings for 3 hours they even have children's programing. Nuts. Just Nuts.

 

[KE4EST]

What satellite is weathernation on and also do I need a ku or cband satellite. also where is the best place to buy a setup at cheap ?

weather nation is on 87W C-Band.

 

[TimLones111]

Here WKYC-DT 3.2 Cleveland (RF17) still runs Weather Radar-A holdover from the old NBC Weather Plus days..And they show the 3 hours of E-I programming Saturdays..Kind of surprised they havent gone with more of a standard network for that channel..

 

[KG4KBU]

@ke4est is it scrambled ? Also where could I get a cheap fta cband setup to watch them ?

 

[Mr Tony]

no its not scrambled but I really dont know why you'd want to see it because it really isnt that good. As I posted in your other thread (in the dish area) it seems to mainly be a loop

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

WeatherNation is also broadcast only in DVB-S2 format do you would need a receiver that can decode S2.

S2 signals are harder to receive then a normal C Band feed and this you would need an 8 foot dish or larger to get it.

 

[phlatwound]

...Also where could I get a cheap fta cband setup to watch them ?

Is FREEEEEEE cheap enough for you?

There are countless unused and unwanted dishes dishes sitting around just for the asking. Drive around and see what you find, then take some pics and post them here on the forum, we can tell you what the good stuff is.

Then we can talk about receivers also.