WBNS-TV to launch 24-hour weather channel in June

[darkfiber]

I wonder if this channel be in HD or SD?

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/business/stories/2009/04/07/wbns_weather.html?sid=101

[Scott]

Oh, dear god, lets hope it's SD.

[hdtvnewbie]

I wonder if this channel be in HD or SD?

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/business/stories/2009/04/07/wbns_weather.html?sid=101

Hopefully it will be more interesting than the version:

http://streamdata.dispatchbroadcast.com/WTHRLive.asx

Actually, I've seen the AccuWeather channel on WHIO. It's every bit as lame as WeatherPlus.

[Thombil]

What a sad day.:mad:

They claim, "Meanwhile, we can avoid some of the interruptions on 10TV."

Why do I not believe that?

[festivus]

"Meanwhile, we can avoid some of the interruptions on 10TV."

I feel the need to comment on this as well. I find the weather related interruptions and screen graphics to be some of the most irritating things on TV.

Scrolling banners taking up the top 10% of the screen advising us of a thunderstorm in Marion. Minimizing the show's viewing area to about half it's normal size to constantly tell us about cancellations. These things drive me nuts.:mad:

I know that stations have to do certain things so this is also an FCC problem. But I would to see stations make the messages as minimally invasive as possible.

Also, to be really skeptical, does anyone have any statistics regarding the percentage of tornado warnings actually produce a tornado? Based on the definition, shouldn't it be 100%?:confused: It's really horrible when the weather guys break in and interrupt a show for these false alarms.

[rossl]

I wonder if this channel be in HD or SD?

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/business/stories/2009/04/07/wbns_weather.html?sid=101

Hopefully the subchannel bandwidth will be as low as it can get.

How much do you need for slowly changing graphics with a voice over?

[hdtvnewbie]

"Meanwhile, we can avoid some of the interruptions on 10TV."

I feel the need to comment on this as well. I find the weather related interruptions and screen graphics to be some of the most irritating things on TV.

Scrolling banners taking up the top 10% of the screen advising us of a thunderstorm in Marion. Minimizing the show's viewing area to about half it's normal size to constantly tell us about cancellations. These things drive me nuts.:mad:

I don't agree. First of all, their business is locality and breaking news and weather information is an important part of the service they provide. Locality is what makes them attractive to customers and, in turn, advertisers. Without locality, you may as well just have the "CBS channel" and put the place on auto-pilot.

Second, radio stations traditionally provided this service, but their staffs have been chopped to the bone. The only local voice you really have that can respond in the event of severe weather is local television. Clear Channel stations in various markets have taken a lot of flack for not having after-hour news people available at times of weather emergencies. During the recent ice storms in Kentucky, there was essentially no radio coverage due to the fact that WHAS has such a skeletal news staff.

The Columbus stations basically cover a 50 or 60 mile radius from their tower ... their coverage area extends from Mansfield to about Waverly; and from Dayton to Zanesville. Without local radio to cover emergency events, that task falls to television. That's a large area to cover and just because the weather isn't threatening here, doesn't mean that all is well in Pike County.

Now as to the channel itself, I can't believe WBNS is so freaking stupid. From what I've seen on WHIO, the AccuWeather channel isn't much different than WeatherPlus on NBC4. The graphics are better, otherwise it's every bit as lame, boring, unwatchable, or pick your adjective. Basically another wasted effort to throw something on a subchannel.

IMO, a better way to fill the channel would be with rotating/recycled local and national news with Weather on the 10's.

[willcail]

First I'm quite surprise that they recanted that they're not muticasting their digital signal. When I watch the Columbus Metropolitan Club forum the GM of WBNS DT states that he doesn't see the purpose of muticasting. Oddly I watch this on 34.2, irony aside. The Dispatch Group owned WTHR DT muticast.

I'm an OTA HDTV viewer that doesn't want to deal with Time Warner Cable. I like watch the uncompress feed of HDTV broadcast. I'm glad that there is an 24 hour OTA weather channel coming back to Columbus. Plus there are seniors and low income people who can't afford cable.

Plus when I stay up to watch Dave and there were severe weather, they cut into the show. I have an amplified AM antenna connected to my HD100 and tune to 1200AM to listen to weather updates, now I can lay off the radio.

[festivus]

hdtvnewbie, I don't have an issue with warnings. I have an issue with warnings taking up too much of the screen and/or being constant. An intermittent scroll at the bottom of the screen should be sufficient. To me, putting it at the top is more distracting. Shrinking the show's viewing area to half normal area is crazy. If they do shrink the area, I wish they would center it so that I could use my zoom feature to get rid of the garbage around it.

Heck, my electricity goes out when a breeze over 30 mph hits my area anyway...