Sick of weather banners

[UncleMeat]

Few thoughts...

A) I *HATE* the interruptions.  Banners, I can generally live with, but when Vince Condella breaks in every 2.5 minutes to alert us that there are wind gusts of 30mph (I'm not talking about the recent floods, I'm talking about the last 10+ years), it is going too far.  There are amazingly detailed weather banners that can give out all the information that an actual reporter can do without completely disrupting both video and audio for over a minute (like they did during NBA Finals game 2).

B) Is there any reason for the break in HD signal for banners?  I guess I don't understand why ESPN can run an emergency banner to say Tiger Woods is undergoing surgery without losing HD, but WISN can't do the same thing to say it is raining out.

C) How much information do these banners really need to provide?  The typical weather graphic now occupies 3 sides of the screen!  And one side is generally just to display the station name/logo.  Can we just move the station ID on the same side as the weather map and only steal 2 sides?  

D) If you (being the local network affiliate) decide that you must interrupt to give your weather team some face time, can you at least do a 1/4 screen PIP of what is being missed with the regular broadcast?  I think most people can agree that weather is important, but I think that a lot of people who live in Milwaukee County probably would rather continue seeing the US Open and not miss a key shot because of storms in Walworth County.

Moral of the story... it just seems there is enough cost effective technology out there to make this a better system for the viewing audience (IE - I don't think I'm asking anyone to invent a completely new system here).

[Doug Mohr]

I'm right there with you guys on this one.  
 Or, maybe just slide all that over the top stuff to another channel, like WTMJ's Weather Plus on 4.2.  But somehow I doubt that would ever happen.
*Bill

I agree. Why do they take away our precious bandwith for a dedicated weather subchannel if they tromp all over the HD feed with more information than is actually available on the dedicated subchannel??

The most responsible thing to do is during their canned news/weather promos that they run every commercial break, tell people that they can see up to the minute weather on 4.2 or TW channel XXX. Then if there is an actual emergency like a tornado touchdown or river overflow, then of course jump in and tell us, but otherwise stay the heck off my HD stream.

[techguy1975]

There are amazingly detailed weather banners that can give out all the information that an actual reporter can do without completely disrupting both video and audio for over a minute (like they did during NBA Finals game 2).

How is a person who is vision impaired supposed to see the weather banners?  

B) Is there any reason for the break in HD signal for banners?  I guess I don't understand why ESPN can run an emergency banner to say Tiger Woods is undergoing surgery without losing HD, but WISN can't do the same thing to say it is raining out.

Simple:ESPN has the equipment to insert graphics into the HD stream without switching to SD.  

Moral of the story... it just seems there is enough cost effective technology out there to make this a better system for the viewing audience (IE - I don't think I'm asking anyone to invent a completely new system here).

Once again, I am sorry to say, but..  since HD viewship is not measured in the Neilsen ratings, there is little incentive for the stations to fork out the money to get that equipment.  Once viewership of HD starts showing up in the ratings book (as soon as next March) the stations will purchase the equipment.  So, one more summer of these "annoyances" and one more winter, and this will no longer be a issue

[ArgMeMatey]

TV stations do not care about any of us.  They only want the advertisers' money.  Remember, they are selling your eyes to advertisers.  You are the product.  The TV program is not the product.  

In other words, you are being used, and if you don't like it, you can get tickets to the games or push the OFF button.  

If you want to get TV stations' attention, get them on your accounts payable list and then threaten to cut them off if they keep this up.  

Advertisers are indicating that more weather coverage is good, or at least that more weather coverage is not bad, in terms of gathering viewers. Otherwise stations wouldn't do it so much.  

May I recommend a book or periodical?  Perhaps a prerecorded film of some type?  

[mrschimpf]

I've just noticed that WISN has added a local news ticker in HD during "Good Morning America", "12abc" logo and all. I don't get it; if they have the ability to air an HD ticker and to also insert their logo bug onto the 16:9 screen, don't they have the ability to create a weather warning template specific to the HD feed, or does the weather department currently not have that ability? I've also seen WTMJ-DT air full-screen scrolls during the EAS tests, but they must be limited for now just to that one scroll.

[Danno321]

To be fair, we've been having some extremely dangerous weather lately. However, I do agree it's been far too long, they must get the equipment to remain in HD while adding a small weather map to the corner.

I guess it is good for brain dead individuals.  The French Open Final in HD was ruined.

[duncantuna]

I have to add my voice to the many who hate the weather banners.  They are far over-used for weather events that simply are not severe enough to warrant the high drama that the local stations present.

Unfortunately, I don't believe the TV stations are making poor decisions, as they are simply following the market.   The sad part is, the least common denominator is a big, fat, uneducated, easily frightened bunch of people .. they are the ones who respond to marketing campaigns the most, and advertisers want to appeal to them primarily.

I was invited to be a Nielsen family about 6 months ago, and I was looking forward to flipping OFF any channel with weather over-kill.  (Long story short, Nielsen came to wire my TV system into their recording boxes but my A/V system was too difficult for them to capture all data, so half way through the install, they gave up and ripped it all out.)

[BFavre4MVP]

Looks like no Cubs-Sox in HD on Fox today :bang:

Stupid storms. Anytime I get to watch the Brewers pick up a game on our biggest rival in HD, I want to do so.

Oh well, HD or SD, go Sox!

[HCF]

Looks like no Cubs-Sox in HD on Fox today :bang:

Stupid storms. Anytime I get to watch the Brewers pick up a game on our biggest rival in HD, I want to do so.

Oh well, HD or SD, go Sox!

As a Cubs fan I'm extremely sick of this. Last time the Cubs were on Fox they only showed 1 inning of the game before breaking into weather coverage for the rest of the day. The sad thing is, you know they would never do this for football. If the Packers were playing, it would take the end of the world for them to cut into programming, but a raindrop falls 100 miles away and it's important enough to stop covering baseball.

[milwaukee]

Another weekend of HD content ruined by absurdly over hyped weather alerts. Once again TMJ4 is at the front of the pack to put up worthless weather banners first.

[Jayflap]

All that being said, I know channel 4 did have the best ratings during the snow storms since the pre-empted all the programming to show the weather. It is a sad reality, but a ton of the viewing audience will tune in for it.

As was also mentioned before, MPTV just puts up what needs to be seen by FCC law. Since we don't have a weather department, it would be foolish to try to do more without significant additions to the staff. Since the local commercial stations cover it extensively, MPTV just let's you know it's there. From there you can move over to 10-6 and get the NOAA weather radio report and the weather maps.

[duncantuna]

Since we don't have a weather department, it would be foolish to try to do more without significant additions to the staff. Since the local commercial stations cover it extensively, MPTV just let's you know it's there. From there you can move over to 10-6 and get the NOAA weather radio report and the weather maps.

Way to go MPTV and Jayflap.  That's a reason I'm a member.

[Jack 1000]

This is another reason why my viewing of local channels is so limited.  However, when I do want weather information, I go to TWC Weather Plus on channel 104, and see within seconds to minutes everything that I need to know when my city or closest day planner comes up on the crawlspace.  That's all I need to know.

But the locals who can't afford cable, dish, or U-Verse thrive on this weather crap 24x7.  I don't know how this brings in the ratings, but it does.  What's so exciting about a local forecast anyway?  Retirees love that crap.  The extended conversations of my late grandparents was listening to all kinds of trivial $hit, and part of that was talking about the weather.  It seems to fascinate many old and simple-minded people.

Jack

[jarschmd]

I am also fed up with the stupid weather banners.  I receive all of my TV signals OTA, but if I was actually paying TWC or D or DT for nice local feeds, I would be absolutely irate.

Someone in this thread claimed that they were losing 40% of the screen size when the weather graphics come up.  I just broke out the tape measure, and I'm losing 50% of the screen (area) from a widescreen HD feed when the Channel 4 weather bar comes up.

I'd go as far to say that I'm losing 75% (or probably even more lines of resolution)  of the HD feed because the remaining half of the picture has about 200 lines of interlaced resolution.

What should happen is that Time Warner should be looking out for their customers, and they should be pressuring the locals to get rid of the excessive weather banners.  Oh, wait, TWC can't even get their own "digital cable" to be digital.  Of course, everyone should also be writing or calling these stations directly, as well.

The PBS weather warning is awesome.  I also have noticed the local HD overlays during the morning shows.  The technology is available for that; why not weather?

The whole situation is completely ridiculous.  As I write this right now, there is a supposed-to-be-HD tennis match taking place on WTMJ 4.  Currently, there is a weather "warning" bar and map and scrolling message line on the screen.  There is not a bit of weather on the radar more severe than a light green (light rain).  The current "warning" is for a THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR THE ENTIRE VIEWING AREA!!!!!!!  YELLOW MAP.  THERE ARE NO SEVERE WARNINGS RIGHT NOW AT ALL!!!  YET THE STUPID WEATHER BAR IS DESTROYING THE TENNIS MATCH!!!  I DON'T EVEN LIKE TENNIS!!!!!  THE PARENT NETWORKS SHOULD STEP IN (oops, maybe not...CBS is too cheap or stupid to carry either their morning and/or evening national news shows in widescreen HD).  Bunch of morons...

Bottom line: Local television channels 4, 6, 12, & 58 don't care about their picture quality during weather "events".  That's it.  Plain and simple.  They don't care.

There are people who think that we'll be driving many of our vehicles with biodiesel, ethanol, and hydrogen fuel cells in a matter of a few years.  Even with a (once-pushed-back) FEDERAL MANDATE on digital broadcasting, the local television stations can't even broadcast a stupid weather information bar on their digital feed without destroying the picture and broadcasting the feed in an analog format.  Switchgrass and cellulosic ethanol...yeah, right.  (I even support the use of ethanol)...Hah!

What is the WeatherPlus 4.2 feed for, TMJ4?

[Jayflap]

It still is a digital broadcast, just in Standard Definition. Stations like 4.2 are really nice to haves at this point, but since not everyone is receiving the digital stations yet, you cannot simply direct people with a simple banner to tune into 4.2 while keeping the rest of your broadcast the same. Once everyone has the ability to see all the digital channels, this is an option that some stations may be willing to entertain.