The Weather Network

> *This article is about the main cable channel. For the free ad-supported television channel, see The Weather Network (FAST channel).*
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**The Weather Network** (**TWN**) is a Canadian weather information specialty channel available in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. It delivers weather information on television, digital platforms (responsive websites, mobile and tablet applications) and IPTV apps. TWN is currently owned by Pelmorex Media which is headquartered in Oakville, Ontario, Canada.

TWN launched on September 1, 1988 as **WeatherNow** by Lavalin Inc. and Landmark Communications. On May 1st 1989, the company was renamed to **The Weather Channel (TWC)**, along with the channel renaming to its present day name; *The Weather Network*. There were various ownership changes over the years, and in 2015, Pelmorex acquired ownership of TWC.

The network currently offers regional feeds for Alberta, Toronto, Atlantic Canada and British Columbia. It currently operates other brands, including **MétéoMédia** (the French language variant of TWN; Canada), **Eltiempo** (Spain), **Wetter Plus** (Germany), and **Clima** (Latin America).

## History

The Weather Network was licensed by the CRTC on December 1, 1987 and began broadcasting on September 1, 1988 (six years after the U.S.-based Weather Channel began broadcasting) as **WeatherNow**, under the ownership of engineering firm Lavalin Inc. (now known as SNC-Lavalin) and Landmark Communications. The channel was renamed to *The Weather Network* on May 1, 1989. In it's early years, TWN, and its sister channel, MétéoMédia, shared a single television feed via analogue transponder on one of the Anik satellites, with computer-generated local forecasts airing on one while the video feed of a live forecaster or commercials aired on the other. At first the video section was only available during drive times on weekdays and half of the day on weekends; at other times local forecast was looped. The two services began to run separately starting in 1994, while both were still based in Montreal. Local forecasts were originally generated using the same systems owned by The Weather Channel in the U.S. called *WeatherStar*. TWN began using its own system called PMX in 1996, which is still in use today. Pelmorex purchased The Weather Network from SNC-Lavalin in 1993, two years after the merger of SNC and Lavalin. The channel launched its website, *theweathernetwork.com* in 1996.

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, The Weather Network's broadcasts were divided into different programming blocks. One of the most notable was *EarthWatch*, which originally began as a five-minute news segment discussing environmental and weather-related issues. The show had expanded as a nighttime programming block in the mid-1990s, and the news segment later spun off as the current *WeatherWatch* segment. Other programming blocks included the *Morning Report*, focusing on Eastern Canada in the mornings; *Sea to Sea*, focusing on Western Canada in the "workday" hours; an unnamed afternoon block which would later be known as *Across Canada* (spun off from a segment seen on *EarthWatch*); and the *Weekend Report*, later known as *This Weekend*. The *Morning Report* was, coincidentally, the title of the GTA broadcast dated back to February 7, 1994; the runtime was 4 hours. When it was upgraded to a national broadcast; *Good Morning Toronto* was provided as a replacement, but runtime was reduced by half-hour.) Programming blocks were discontinued in 2002 for weekdays and 2004 on weekends, although *This Weekend* continued to air until 2007.

On May 2, 1998, The Weather Network started broadcasting nationally from a new studio facility in Mississauga, Ontario after relocating from Montreal. This led to the departure of several presenters, notably those who were on air during weekends. Several new presenters arrived at the time, while many of the Montreal presenters initially relocated, most departed from the channel over time, many of whom moved back to Montreal. Chris St. Clair was the only presenter from Montreal remaining until his retirement from The Weather Network in July 2021.

In the late 2000s, a period of gradual, but significant changes with The Weather Network's programming began, starting with the launch of a seven-day and short term precipitation forecast during the Local Forecast along with the introduction of new weather icon that is used currently. In 2002, The Weather Network introduced "Metacast Ultra", a weather presentation system that consisted of weather maps featuring more than 1,200 local communities, commuter routes and regional highways, animated weather icons, and higher resolution weather graphics. On March 29, 2004, The Weather Network introduced a new 14-day trend outlook as part of the local cable weather package. It provided a two-week look at how the weather would trend compared to normal temperature values and weather conditions for that time of year.

In June 2004, The Weather Network took legal action against *Star Choice* (now *Shaw Direct*) after moving TWN on a new bundle without giving any notice to its subscribers. The channel's management tried to prevent Star Choice from moving the channel as subscribers would have to pay an additional $7 to watch The Weather Network. In late 2004, TWN made improved local forecast coverage, providing more localized forecasts in up to 1,200 communities across Canada.

The Weather Network relocated its headquarters to Oakville, Ontario in November 2005. The channel's GTA morning show made its debut at the brand new broadcast facility on November 29, 2005, while the network's national programming started broadcasting from the new facility on December 2, 2005. The Weather Network has gradually introduced new local weather products including an hourly forecast for the next 12 hours in 2006, long term precipitation forecasts in 2008 and improved satellite and radar maps in 2009.

Also in 2009, The Weather Network was granted a 9(1)(*h*) must-carry status by the CRTC, under the condition that Pelmorex develop a "national aggregator and distributor" of localized emergency alert messages. This system would eventually be formalized into *Alert Ready* as it exists today, which launched on March 31, 2015. The grant of the 9(1)(*h*) must-carry status was likely due to the aforementioned legal action taken against Star Choice by TWN in 2004.

In early 2013, The Weather Network launched regional feeds for Alberta and the Maritime provinces. Each feed features its own regional forecasts, weather stories, and where available, traffic information was provided by Beat the Traffic.

On December 8, 2014, The Weather Network and CBC News began a content-sharing partnership, in which TWN produced national weather forecasts that would appear on CBC News Network and during *The National*, and The Weather Network would be able to syndicate CBC News content on its television and digital outlets.

In 2015, Pelmorex bought out The Weather Channel's stake in the service.

1. ↑ Decision CRTC 87-899 CRTC 1997-12-01
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Sarah Dougherty, Weather Network bucks media-business trend , Canwest News Service via *The Gazette* (Montreal), December 31, 2008
3. ↑ Government of Canada, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) (1987-12-01). ARCHIVED - Licence application - MeteoMedia Inc.. “MeteoMedia proposes to offer [...] video programming each weekday, from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. eastern time, and [...] between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.”
4. ↑ "WeatherStar4000 In Canada"
5. ↑ Up-to-date info on weather show (1970-01-01).
6. ↑ The Weather Network - TWN on TV (2000-10-26).
7. ↑ The Weather Network · TWN on TV (2007-05-24).
8. ↑ Press Release - The Weather Network like you've never seen it before - "[1]", March 27, 2002.
9. ↑ Press Release - The Weather Network launches its spring programming - "[2]", March 29, 2004.
10. ↑ Press Release - Spring has Sprung at The Weather Network - "[3]", March 29, 2006
11. ↑ Broadcasting Order CRTC 2009-340 (11 June 2009).
12. ↑ Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2011-438. CRTC (22 July 2011).
13. ↑ "The Weather Channel Sells Stake in Pelmorex Media". *Broadcaster*, December 22, 2015.