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Accuweather Improvements

As it looks like Accuweather is here to stay:

AccuWeather is proud to partner with Verizon, America’s most preferred TV service provider rated #1 in picture quality by the 2014 American Customer Satisfaction Index, to bring a superior new broadcast channel to FiOS customers, providing the smarter choice in weather programming.

I would like to see a thread where people talk about what they would like to see on this channel for improvements.

Here is what Accuweather has said:

Post launch, AccuWeather will continue to enhance its programming features and benefits for FiOS TV customers, constantly evolving and improving products to serve customers, including a hyper-local, personalized weather experience with AccuWeather MinuteCast® Minute-by-Minute forecasts and interactive options in a cutting-edge, high quality and engaging presentation, providing highly localized, customized, and tailored programming. The best in weather will keep getting better, serving customers with the all-weather content they want. (for full details, go here: http://getaccuweather.tv/accuweather-advantage)

I have posted comments on their FB page asking about these items and when we could see some of these rolled out (https://www.facebook.com/AccuWeather?fref=nf)

I suggest that all who are intersted also post constructive comments about what you want to see on our accuweather channel.

Comments

daniel_obrien

My first post on this seems to have been deleted?

Why is Accuweather TV showing only NORTHEAST USA weather? I'm down here in Tampa and everytime I check channel 618, they are showing detailed weather, forecast, and radar for the Northeast: Boston, Philly, NYC, DC, etc.

I once saw them spend 30 seconds on central Texas and Colorado, with a high level satellite picture, but then they switched back to NE USA.

I've contacted Accuweather via tweet and they say they are working on local weather for other areas. Really? Can't prove it by me.

What no FIOS customers anywhere else than the NE? Tampa must be orphaned, then.

tns2

@dmobrien2001 wrote:
My first post on this seems to have been deleted?
...
What no FIOS customers anywhere else than the NE? Tampa must be orphaned, then.

Yep, as of next year.

CRobGauth

Your post was moved: http://forums.verizon.com/t5/FiOS-TV-Programming/The-Weather-Channel/m-p/782908#M26980

They are trying to keep all of the Weather channel related posts in one thread.

tns2

In this case it shouldn't be moved. It is about Accuweather, and may be will get addressed. Does anyone know if accuweather has feeds for different areas of the country?

daniel_obrien

Well, the poster above pretty much explained WHY Accuweather focuses on the NE USA. That's the bulk of Verizon FIOS customers. Perhaps when Verizon completes the sell of the outlying FIOS areas to Frontier, then Frontier might either bring back the WC or adjust the Accuweather feed for the appropriate areas they now own.

daniel_obrien

It would be nice if the Accuweather BROADCAST covered more than just the NorthEast USA on their current conditions, forecasts, and radar. I don't care about the scrolls and hyperactive locals on bottom. I want to see maps and hear them talk about MY regional area.

(As an aside, I just learned the Verizon is selling FIOS in Texas and Florida and another state to Frontier, so maybe Frontier will fix the Accuweather problems by reverting to Weather Channel.)

CRobGauth

So I spent a few minutes tonight with Widget that shows up on channel 49.

It works for me.

I can get local weather for my area code.

I can get hourly forecast, 7 day and radar.

Not sure what else you would want for a quick overview.

hallrk

The widget is very bare bones. No moving radar to see if the rain/snow is moving into or out of your area. Very small print to read. No details on wind which is a big thing in the winter. Overall just very inferior product from what weatherscan was.

I was home yesterday and watched Accuweather more. No detail on the weather in your area. Its great if you live Palm Springs but next to nothing for my area,DC. The people on it just aren't as polished as the Weather Channel folks. Maybe that will come in time but for now not that good.

All I want to know from my weather is the details for my area. I'm not getting that from Acuuweather and very little from this weather widget. Verizon has totally failed here. Over time I suspect they will lose more than a few customers and may lose many potential new customers when they find out there is no Weather Channel.

GMinRVA

"So I spent a few minutes tonight with Widget that shows up on channel 49".

And there is the problem with the WeatherBug channel (49). I don't want to spend "a few minutes" to check the temperature and local radar. I want to be able to turn to channel to 49 and see the temp and radar within 5 seconds, like it used to be with the much better service you removed. I don't always have minutes to devote to opening a widget and hunting for static (USELESS) radar, which I have yet to find on the widget accessible from Richmond, VA FIOS.

By the way, I turned on channel 49 and it said to press the FIOS TV button to launch the widget, so I pushed it and nothing happened. So, I went to the widget area and clicked on the Weatherbug widget and I saw an amaturish 7 day forcast, but still no radar. Its like Verizon changed to an inferior option without it even being ready for viewing.

Why would Verizon FIOS treat their paying customer so poorly?
Did anyone at FIOS even look at or try the Weatherbug widget prior to the change? If so, why didn't they fix it prior to launch?
Did Verizon FIOS think no one would miss having a dynamic local radar channel, NOT A WIDGET?
ON WHAT DATE WILL I BE ABLE TO TURN TO CHANNEL 49 AND SEE LIVE LOCAL RADAR?

A VERY UPSET CUSTOMER.......................

Nobycane

You are not the only one. The WeatherBug was junk prior to the switch anyways....and it is still junk.

This Accuweather is a "National" overview of the weather and has no emphansis on "localized" weather conditions...like the Weather Channel had...especially on CH.49.

To keep viewing Accuweather and watching every bloody city in the country is absolutely crazy and worthless.

What happens when FL approaches their stormy season this summer? The Weather Channel would provide immediate localized storm watches and warnings (especially on CH 49). Accuweather does not and will not (in its current format) provide this immediate and essential information to local customers.

I don't care whether Verizon and Accuweather are in each others back pockets - but to eliminate 3 important weather informational channels and replacement them with hack weather related channels is crooked and cheap...yet we are all still getting charged for the same service......

* And on a side note... Verizon FIOS sent an email stating that they are removing 3-4 sport channels from "my" package and offering them on another package (upgrade). Again, more channels are being deleted and stripped and I am still paying for the same package service. In my opinion, I believe that Verizon is breaching their contract that I entered with them for the channels and package offerings I originally signed up for and paying. This make 12 channels I have lost in a year's time.

I may just cancel and fight them on the attempt for early cancellation fees.

hitmehhh

I agree, Weatherbug is not detailed enough with the information you can get.

tns2

I've gotten the radar to come up, occasionally. But most of the time it says something about check that you have internet access.

JDavid

Same here. In fact, I'm getting the no internet connection message right now - despite the fact I'm on the internet through my router.

I would call it a piece of crap - but that would give crap a bad reputation.

CRobGauth

Is this on your STB widget?

I have never had an issue with radar coming up on widget.

pillman

The new channel "might" be allright "if you could see it". Much of the onscreen content is in a light blue color or other light color. The lack of contrast makes the content difficult if not impossible to see for many people. Has anyone looked at the broadcast ?

CRobGauth

I assume you are talking about the current conditions and forecast info that runs along left side and the bottom.

I don't see any issues, but could see how someone who has vision problems might not be able to distinguish due to low contrast.

My suggestion would be to post on either Accuweather FB or Twitter feeds.

Being a relatively new channel they may not have gotten that type of feedback yet.

Jakethecrusier

I believe this National Version of Accuweather is totally useless

Whenever I need and accurate weather report, I always go on line and access Accuweather for my city. It is in my opinion the very best.

However, the version being displayed in FIOS is tedius at best to watch. You have to wait endless minutes till it gets to your area and there does not appear to be any type of sequence, so you can not even walk away thinking it will be a while before it gets to my area. I really do not need to know the weather in Seattle etc. from Jersey and I am sure vice/versa. When it finally gets to your area you get a 10 second blurb of useless information as a reward for your waiting that long.

At least the Weather channel was programmed for your city.

I think FIOS would have been better served to drop weather altogether rather then pick up this version of Accuweather.

Papa-Tom

Accuweather sucks. It has been broken for a long time and still is.

It is not programmable -- I set a new city and make it the default, then when I exit accuweather and restart it, the new city is gone. most of the time, hour-to-hour only goes about 3-4 hours. a out 10% of the time it will show about 10 hours into the day. Many times the entire widgets will not work "no connection to the widget server".

accuweather channel is even worse. I have not seen my local weather (maryland) yet. I have seen a lot of Seattle, Dallas, Florida, Texas, etc. Weather channel always showed MY weather, any time I wanted to check. first thing in the mrning, last thing at night.

cmcintyre90

Unless AccuWeather can mimic The Weather Channel with having local weather information in the sidebar and lower display, I don't see much value in it for me personally. Use the main video window to have the anchors give details about cities nationally if folks want to look into them for travel/other purposes. It also should be live. It's on a loop and I have no idea when it gets updated each day. I had it on and if I was not glued to the TV set constantly waiting for my city, I'd miss it. I had it on for about 30 minutes and each time I looked back, I saw either Dallas, Palm Springs, or Washington DC instead of my home area, Philadelphia (you'd think with their strong NE focus, I'd see it as often!)

They also need an equivalent to WeatherScan. That was even more local as I live in the Philly suburbs and gave detailed info about my specific area in an instant. Didn't need to load any (most likely) slow, buggy widgets to do it. In fact, I can't even use the WeatherBug widget as I use a CableCARD instead of a STB, so channel 49 is completely useless to me.

I know I pretty much just said AccuWeather must become the Weather Channel to improve, but they set a high bar when it comes to being able to see what your weather was at a quick glance. And because AccuWeather came out of the gate flat out replacing The Weather Channel, I'm not as willing to give them more of a shot because they seem very unprepared in comparison and unable to offer what another network can, one that I used to be able to watch.

But to each their own - if AccuWeather wants to specialize in constantly covering a wide range of cities with their graphics instead of local forecasts, then I think they would better benefit being offered alongside TWC because at that point, it's not really a viable replacement - and since some folks seem to dig what AccuWeather is offering. Why not please both groups!

mph101

I agree with what has been said. Endless long details on smaller towns and cities in the NE.

Of course this is because Accu Weather is based up in PA or NJ I believe and the core market left for Verizon FIOS is in the mid atlantic and the NE. The rest doesn't matter its all sold off to the pitiful Frontier.

This is the first time since I have had any cable provider that a local radar with local weather alerts isn't included. Waiting for Accu weather to slowly cycle to Tampa is a waste of cable bandwith. The graphic suck though they did tune down th confused blinding bnright white. Its still chaos.

When severe weather pops up I want to see the alert on a crawler and the local radar. There is no problem interputing regular viewing for a emergency alert test but where is the radar showing the water spouts 2 miles away??

tns2

Accuweather is based in PA. But it is nationwide and widely used. However there TV service does not appear to be setup well for Nationwide coverage.

Schnauzer3

Accuweather is absolutely useless unless you live in the Northeast. Every single time i turn to to the channel the weather is for the Northeast -- switching people on/off camera every 2 minutes (estimate). Verizon made a terrible decision based on their bottom line - not based on customer satisfaction. Unfortunately Verizon is my only choice as AT&T doesn't have cable lines in my area and i don't want to switch to satellite. Otherwise i would have dropped Verizon for making a terrible business deciison that they aren't willing to change - despite all the complaints from their customers. Drop Accuweather -- it's not worth a penny!

Speedy13

I agree the Accuweather Channel is very poorly implemented but if you try the Accuweather Widget you get all the info you would need on demand without the talking heads. You can set it for your own zip code by default and also set up other zip codes you might want to check on which you can toggle through.

gman110

I need local radar. Severe storms coming my way and fios is telling me nothing. Accuweather, no radar, widget, no radar, fios channel 1, no radar.

CRobGauth

Widget has radar.

Just not motion on it.

wantWCback

Since we are stuck with this horrible weather channel.....well they call it a weahter channel

anyway how do contact them to change it a bit

1. change the background and type: currently it is hare do read

2 get rid of the side screen and expand the map

3 Most of all stop with everyone popping in for 2 mins. it is enough to give a person motion sickness. stick with one person

hallrk

The weather widget doesn't work about half the time for me. It will say no data available and ask to troubleshoot. It is a very poor substitute for Weatherscan.

TNTTX

I agree - Accuweather is worthless. Verizon needs to consider what their customers want and NEED...

HoneysMom

We are on Long Island, NY There is a storm coming when there is a "weather person" on the radar is 3 hours old. They keep repeating it. The storm cell they are showing has already past over us. There is more coming possible lightening and hail. We need a news service not this amature hour. When there is a large map with music the radar is current. Get rid of the "weather people" put up radar, let the customers predict their own weather. It would be much better!

mab1941

Just got back from vaction at a house with the Weather Channel. In the smallest town, there was a crawl at the bottom of the screen with the local conditions and forecast. Why can't AccuWeather do the same thing? How about just going back to the Weather Channel.

JohnLeite

We've had AccuWeather for at least 6 months and, in that time, I have never seen the weather for the Providence/Boston region. What a waste. The Weather Channel and its sister SD station (channel 49) were great. I could get my local weather at any time. I pay $163 per month and now I can't even get the local weather. Since Verizon refuses to listen to its customers, I will be cancelling my service when it expires in December. Time to cut the cord.

mystybee1

Received an email about the "new, improved" accuweather that it now has local content. NOT TRUE! I tuned in this morning and got weather for California, then Texas, then back to California again. I live in NEW YORK. When, after a ridiculously long time (hours-maybe not until tomorrow), accuweather cycles around to New York, what do we get? New York City. I know that is the largest city but it is not the ONLY city and the weather there is vastly different from the rest of the state due to the ocean effect. Living in western NY, where we are affected by lake effect snow in winter, it is imperative to be informed of local current conditions!!!!!!!! Weather from the other side of the country is totally useless to us.

It is certainly easy to see that with hundreds of messages and replies regarding the weather service Verizon provides, you have many unhappy customers. I urge Verizon to negotiate a contrast with The Weather Channel which provided up to date weather in a timely fashion plus the added bonus of having a separate channel for our local weather with a radar picture. Accuweather is totally inadequate and a very poor substiute.

kb192

Doesnt matter what kind of improvements they make. Watching accuweather is like watching the philadelphia 76ers compared to the te elite teams. Is Sam Hinke the man in charge there at accuweather? BRING BACK WEATHER CHANNEL- we deserve first class!!!

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