Weather Channel Changes Its Climate

The people who run the Weather Channel faced a couple of major questions in the last few years that had nothing to do with whether or not to carry an umbrella to work.

Instead, both struck at the very heart of what a television network is supposed to be.

Question One: Do you risk alienating loyal viewers of perhaps the most regimented schedule on TV with new programming designed to get people to lay off the remote control for a while?

Question Two: Does a television network eagerly invest in services for people who are not watching television?

The answers are “yes” on both counts, but they weren’t easy in coming.

New to the Weather Channel’s schedule this season is “Atmospheres,” an hourlong newsmagazine (Wednesdays at 5 p.m. PST). Hosts Jim Cantore and Mishelle Michaels introduce such weather-related stories as a husband-and-wife storm-chasing team, a surf forecaster who watches the weather in search of the perfect wave and how skyscrapers are designed to withstand the wind.

It’s the type of thing most television executives wouldn’t think twice about doing. But it was a very big deal at the Weather Channel.

The network’s schedule is intentionally predictable; longtime viewers know if they tune in at a certain time each hour, every hour, they’ll see their local forecast, or a report on tropical storms, or the weekend outlook.

There are some variations--more time spent in the morning helping parents decide whether to bundle up their children for school, for instance--but they’re minor.

The schedule rewards loyalty, but also encourages viewers to quickly surf away to another channel when they’ve got what they need. That’s no good, since a network’s financial success depends on keeping viewers long enough to watch the commercials. Networks need longer shows to keep viewers from grazing; it’s why you rarely see videos anymore on MTV or VH1.

An average viewer on the Weather Channel stays there for 12 minutes. That’s not bad, but the network’s executives know the figure is inflated by what are politely called the “weather-involved,” or geeks who watch the weather for hours on end.

“Atmospheres” was introduced to keep people tuned in for a full hour. While the Weather Channel is touting the series, its executives are carefully monitoring whether it’s too much of a shock to loyal fans.

So far, so good. Decker Anstrom, the Weather Channel’s president and chief executive, said ratings are better than they were before the show started. Focus groups of viewers report little aggravation, he said. “They passionately care about what we’re doing so it does add a little bit of caution,” he said. “You don’t want to walk away from or in any way rupture the trust that people have come to have.”

While the Weather Channel has been cautious, competitors such as the Discovery Channel and TLC have succeeded with programming about dramatic weather that Anstrom believes should be on his channel.

Next year another hourlong show will be introduced at 8 p.m. Eventually, Anstrom wants a different program every night of the week in that slot.

“The Weather Channel has done a wonderful job in terms of building a relationship with consumers,” he said. “If you can get them a little more involved, you can deepen that relationship.”

That philosophy guides all the network’s ancillary services. The Weather Channel has had a flourishing Web site for four years, and also delivers weather reports to about 90 radio stations. It is providing reports on local weather for spinoff cable stations, delivering weather to hand-held computers and telephones, and is experimenting with interactive television.

The risk is, the Weather Channel may be investing in its own demise. If the networks make it so much easier to get a forecast elsewhere, why would people need to watch the station?

That was certainly a consideration, Anstrom said, particularly because the Weather Channel’s ratings have--like many other networks’--eroded in the last four years due to increased competition.

But it would be foolish to ignore changes in lifestyle that have more people looking for weather information on their home computers or hand-helds, he said.

“If someone is going to cannibalize it, we’d rather cannibalize ourselves,” Anstrom said. He believes that more people will watch the network if they can find its information elsewhere.

A private company, the Weather Channel doesn’t make its finances known publicly, but Anstrom said the secondary services provide a small minority of the company’s revenue. The Weather Channel is profitable, but he won’t be more specific.