History Creator / TheWeatherChannel

** The Weather Channel's biggest controversy regarding its programming occurred in 2010, when the network began airing ''movies'' on Friday nights. Some of them had only a scant tie-in to weather such as ''{{Film/Misery}}'' (clearly, they didn't think a little film about [[Film/{{Twister}} storm chasers]] was suitable to air there). Jim Cantore issued a [[http://twitter.com/JimCantore/status/13165039488/ public apology]] to his Twitter followers, on one night when the channel aired the film ''Wind'' (which was actually about yachting), [[EpicFail instead of running extended coverage of a tornado outbreak in the Southeast U.S.]] This shift to more of an entertainment-based network than a news/information channel was one of the factors in Dish Network threatening to drop TWC that year, the Friday movie block was eventually dropped by the network.

The purest nuts-and-bolts television channel that will ever be created, The Weather Channel is a 24-hour American cable weather network based just outside Atlanta, Georgia dedicated to telling you what to expect outside every morning, afternoon, evening and night. Whenever a major severe weather event isn't happening, there are also [[SpeculativeDocumentary speculative documentaries]] usually airing each afternoon, evening, and during the overnight hours (these shows are pre-empted in case of major severe weather outbreaks).

The network is well known for its CNN-like weather coverage, and will usually be the first to send reporters, usually meteorologists themselves, to report live on site at major weather events; something that can quickly become awesome, if not crowningly so, if it involves the words "hurricane" or "tornado" occurring within visual range. The Weather Channel was owned by Comcast[=/=]Creator/{{NBC}}[=/=]Creator/{{Universal}} and two private equity firms, The Blackstone Group and Bain Capital; however, the non-TV parts of the company were sold to IBM in 2016, and the network itself was sold two years later to infamous low-budget TV producer Byron Allen.

* DudeWheresMyRespect: Somewhat averted. Even after decades of good work, TWC has started to become the go-to place for even the other networks to call for on-air interviews and explanations of a current weather situation.

** Farmers especially. As long as they exist, TWC will always exist with it. (Indeed, prior to the 2013 retool, many of the ads you'd see on the network were oriented at rural audiences, including Tractor Supply Company, Subaru and LL Bean, which may explain the above-mentioned ProductPlacement.)

** This, along with the FunForSome feel that watching weather forecasts for hours at a time, led to the network releasing compilation albums of their smooth jazz music. There's even some fan-made [=WeatherSTAR=] generators, such as [[https://battaglia.ddns.net/twc/ this one]], that can accept any US zip code of your choice and display the area's weather data in classic Weather Channel format, complete with smooth jazz.

** This, along with the FunForSome feel that watching weather forecasts for hours at a time, led to the network releasing compilation albums of their smooth jazz music.

** Many longtime viewers of The Weather Channel have argued that the channel has played this straight in recent years due to the shift away from round-the-clock forecast programming to include more weather-related reality series[[note]]These shows, referred to as "long-form programming" (ironic as their forecast programming has much longer running times than their entertainment shows), began in their current format in the early 2000s with the weather-focused newsmagazine ''Atmospheres''; although the first ever "long-form" series on the network was ''The Weather Classroom'', which debuted in 1993 as part of the ''Cable in the Classroom'' initative.[[/note]]. Some have cited that network's original purpose is now largely being filled by weather websites (including TWC's own, weather.com) and mobile apps that provide weather forecasts, making a reliance on 24-hour forecast programming somewhat obsolete (although TWC does preempt most (if not, all) regularly-scheduled entertainment-based shows during extended storm coverage).

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Why Jeanetta Jones left the network.
* TheRival: [=AccuWeather=] launched two of these. The Local [=AccuWeather=] Channel debuted in 2005 as an over-the-air network; however, its main downside is that it's content is fully pretaped, meaning that TWC trounces it in regards to providing live coverage during severe weather events. A similar cable network, [=AccuWeather=] Network, remedied this when it launched in 2015 at the time of TWC's dispute with Verizon [=FiOS=] ([=AWN=]'s initial carrier), providing live weather content.

Its Canadian counterpart is The Weather Network, which, for years, used a version of TWC's proprietary [=WeatherStar=] system.[[note]]A line of computers programmed to generate weather observations, forecasts and alerts provided by the National Weather Service and, after the network began developing its own in-house forecasts in 2002, TWC pertinent to the location of the local cable system; The Weather Network switched to a similar in-house system, PMX (developed by parent company Pelmorex), in 1996[[/note]] Although it had a pseudo-competitor in the late 1990s with Creator/{{MSNBC}} Weather by Intellicast,[[note]]A slate of regionally-focused weather networks formed as a partnership between the cable news channel and Internet weather forecast service Intellicast, itself owned alongside TWC from 2011 to 2016, and carried exclusively by satellite provider [=PrimeStar=] from 1996 to 1999[[/note]] competitors to The Weather Channel — almost all of which exclusively focus[ed] on weather news and forecasts as TWC originally had — popped up during the late 2000s with the now-defunct digital subchannel networks NBC Weather Plus (2005–2009) and The Local [=AccuWeather=] Channel (2005–2015), and on cable and streaming in the 2010s and early 2020s, with [=WeatherNation=] (launched in 2011; see CableSatelliteMudslinging below), [=AccuWeather=] Network (launched in 2015) and Fox Weather (launched in 2020).

Its Canadian counterpart is The Weather Network, which, for years, used a version of TWC's proprietary [=WeatherStar=] system.[[note]]A line of computers programmed to generate weather observations, forecasts and alerts provided by the National Weather Service and, after the network began developing its own in-house forecasts in 2002, TWC pertinent to the location of the local cable system; The Weather Network switched to a similar in-house system, PMX (developed by parent company Pelmorex), in 1996[[/note]] Although it had a pseudo-competitor in the late 1990s with Creator/MSNBC Weather by Intellicast,[[note]]A slate of regionally-focused weather networks formed as a partnership between the cable news channel and Internet weather forecast service Intellicast, itself owned alongside TWC from 2011 to 2016, and carried exclusively by satellite provider [=PrimeStar=] from 1996 to 1999[[/note]] competitors to The Weather Channel — almost all of which exclusively focus[ed] on weather news and forecasts as TWC originally had — popped up during the late 2000s with the now-defunct digital subchannel networks NBC Weather Plus (2005–2009) and The Local [=AccuWeather=] Channel (2005–2015), and on cable and streaming in the 2010s and early 2020s, with [=WeatherNation=] (launched in 2011; see CableSatelliteMudslinging below), [=AccuWeather=] Network (launched in 2015) and Fox Weather (launched in 2020).

The network is well known for its Creator/{{CNN}}-like weather coverage, and will usually be the first to send reporters, usually meteorologists themselves, to report live on site at major weather events; something that can quickly become awesome, if not crowningly so, if it involves the words "hurricane" or "tornado" occurring within visual range. The Weather Channel was owned by Comcast[=/=]Creator/{{NBC}}[=/=]Creator/{{Universal}} and two private equity firms, The Blackstone Group and Bain Capital; however, the non-TV parts of the company were sold to IBM in 2016, and the network itself was sold two years later to infamous low-budget TV producer Byron Allen.

* RatedMForManly: Again, Jim Cantore. [[DistaffCounterpart A distaff version]] can be found in Stephanie Abrams.

Its Canadian counterpart is The Weather Network, which, for years, used a version of TWC's proprietary [=WeatherStar=] system.[[note]]A line of computers programmed to generate weather observations, forecasts and alerts provided by the National Weather Service and, after the network began developing its own in-house forecasts in 2002, TWC pertinent to the location of the local cable system[[/note]] Although it had a pseudo-competitor in the late 1990s with Creator/MSNBC Weather by Intellicast,[[note]]A slate of regionally-focused weather networks formed as a partnership between the cable news channel and Internet weather forecast service Intellicast, itself owned alongside TWC from 2011 to 2016, and carried exclusively by satellite provider [=PrimeStar=] from 1996 to 1999[[/note]] competitors to The Weather Channel — almost all of which exclusively focus[ed] on weather news and forecasts as TWC originally had — popped up during the late 2000s with the now-defunct digital subchannel networks NBC Weather Plus (2005–2009) and The Local [=AccuWeather=] Channel (2005–2015), and on cable and streaming in the 2010s and early 2020s, with [=WeatherNation=] (launched in 2011; see CableSatelliteMudslinging below), [=AccuWeather=] Network (launched in 2015) and Fox Weather (launched in 2020).

Its Canadian counterpart is The Weather Network. Although it had a pseudo-competitor in the late 1990s with Creator/MSNBC Weather by Intellicast,[[note]]A slate of regionally-focused weather networks formed as a partnership between the cable news channel and Internet weather forecast service Intellicast, itself owned alongside TWC from 2011 to 2016, and carried exclusively by satellite provider [=PrimeStar=] from 1996 to 1999[[/note]] competitors to The Weather Channel — almost all of which exclusively focus[ed] on weather news and forecasts as TWC originally had — popped up during the late 2000s with the now-defunct digital subchannel networks NBC Weather Plus (2005–2009) and The Local [=AccuWeather=] Channel (2005–2015), and on cable and streaming in the 2010s and early 2020s, with [=WeatherNation=] (launched in 2011; see CableSatelliteMudslinging below), [=AccuWeather=] Network (launched in 2015) and Fox Weather (launched in 2020).

Its Canadian counterpart is The Weather Network. Although it had a pseudo-competitor in the late 1990s with Creator/MSNBC Weather by Intellicast,[[note]]A slate of regionally-focused weather networks formed as a partnership between the cable news channel and Internet weather forecast service Intellicast, itself owned alongside TWC from 2011 to 2016, and carried exclusively by satellite provider [=PrimeStar=] from 1996 to 1999[[/note]] competitors to The Weather Channel — almost all of which exclusively focus[ed] on weather news and forecasts as TWC originally had — popped up during the late 2000s with the now-defunct digital subchannel networks NBC Weather Plus (2005–2009) and The Local AccuWeather Channel (2005–2015), and on cable and streaming in the 2010s and early 2020s, with [=WeatherNation=] (launched in 2011; see CableSatelliteMudslinging below), [=AccuWeather=] Network (launched in 2015) and Fox Weather (launched in 2020).

Its Canadian counterpart is The Weather Network; a competing US service is Weather Nation (see CableSatelliteMudslinging below.)

* CableSatelliteMudslinging: In 2013, The Weather Channel decided to raise the per-subscriber rate it charges the cable or satellite operator from about 13c to 14c, while Creator/DirecTV felt that TWC was only worth 10c, so they decided to drop it in favor of [=WeatherNation=], a competing TV Weather service. So The Weather Channel started running anti-[=DirecTV=] ads, despite the fact it was no longer available on [=DirecTV=]...

* DeadlineNews The 2013 Tornado Hunt crew came ''very close'' to this in the El Reno, Oklahoma tornado.
** ''Jim Cantore'', of all people, almost got impaled by a 2x4 during Hurricane Michael in 2018. He subsequently collided and nearly was tripped by a branch during Hurricane Ian in 2022 before having to brace against a sign then taking shelter.

* TheElevatorFromIpanema: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3kkCMGWjAo local forecasts]] cued by the viewer's TV provider used to feature Muzak in the background. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7ax3PURlUc Holiday Muzak would be used in December]].

* TheRival: [=AccuWeather=] launched two of these. The Local [=AccuWeather=] Channel debuted in 2005 as an over-the-air network; however, its main downside is that it's content is fully pretaped, meaning that TWC trounces it in regards to providing live coverage during severe weather events. A similar cable network, [=AccuWeather=] Network, remedied this when it launched in 2015 at the time of TWC's dispute with Verizon FiOS ([=AWN=]'s initial carrier), providing live weather content.

** ''Jim Cantore'', of all people, almost got impaled by a 2x4 during Hurricane Michael in 2018.

* NightmareFuelStationAttendant: During serious weather events, ''[[UpToEleven everyone on the air qualifies.]]'' Hell, even ''the logo'' is affected, going from its' normal blue, to [[RedIsViolent red]].

** [=WeatherNation=] TV launched as this in 2011. Like the other two competitors, it differs from TWC in that it actually focuses on weather 24/7. It initially suffered from being like The Local [=AccuWeather=] Channel in offering mostly pre-recorded content, but in 2015, amid complaints about it's lack of live coverage, has begun providing real-time severe weather information and reports. The only drawback to [=WeatherNation=]'s severe weather coverage is that it breaks away to comply with its fixed "wheel" segment format, with over-the-air viewers having to wait 20 minutes to find out if a tornado is on the ground in Kansas or a hurricane has made landfall on the Gulf Coast.

* BadassCreed: 'The ''(insert weather condition here)'' Authority'.
* BigManOnCampus: That would be ''you'', Mr. Cantore.
* BaldOfAwesome: Jim Cantore (again).

* DeadlineNews[=/=]RedShirtReporter: The 2013 Tornado Hunt crew came ''very close'' to this in the El Reno, Oklahoma tornado.

* RealityEnsues: Oh so very much, when bad weather events occur.