AccuWeather Prepping New Channel

As early as midsummer, weather enthusiasts could be viewing the AccuWeather Channel, a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week television network, according to centredaily.com.

AccuWeather announced that it will launch the channel from its State College, PA headquarters.

The announcement came after DirecTV dropped The Weather Channel on Monday after the two entities failed to come to an agreement over fees.

Joel Myers

Joel N. Myers, founder and president of AccuWeather, said launching a television weather network is a way to enhance the company’s services while creating competition.

“There is room for more than one weather news channel,” Myers said. “It’s competition, so some cable channels and Internet companies have the option to carry AccuWeather instead.”

AccuWeather has not announced its partners, and Myers declined to comment when asked what cable or satellite providers the channel would be aired on.

AccuWeather provides weather services to 175,000 clients worldwide and has a viewership of more than 1 billion. It serves 200 television stations, 760 radio stations and 600 newspapers, said spokesman Justin Roberti.

If AccuWeather wants to be successful, Steve Kraycik, director of student television at Penn State, said it should focus more on localized weather, and less on reality-based weather-related shows.

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