Weather app AccuWeather is to launch a 24-hour weather channel in the third quarter of 2014.
The company said it had not planned to make the announcement at this time, but decided to accelerate the announcement in light of the controversy that has developed between DIRECTV and The Weather Channel and in order to make the public aware of an additional offering that will be available to them later this year.
This week, rival platform The Weather Channel was turned off from DirecTV’s line up after the two parties failed to reach an agreement on the license fee. The Weather Channel says removing its programming from the platform is a public safety issue as viewers will potentially miss warnings and advice on extreme weather.
The new AccuWeather Channel will be focused on ‘helping people make better decisions in planning to improve life and safety’, the company said.
It will provide highly localized and customized forecasts, and will round out AccuWeather’s suite of services to the public.
AccuWeather already provides weather forecasts by smartphones, tablets, AccuWeather.com web and mobile sites, radio, AccuWeather-affiliated television stations, and over 500 newspapers nationwide.
The new AccuWeather Channel will be streamed on AccuWeather.com and other internet sites, as well as through media partner affiliate mobile and internet sites and is expected to be available through cable and satellite carriers.
www.AccuWeather.com