AT&T Debuts Weather On Demand with U-verse TV

While telco TV providers have largely sidestepped creating local content, they realize the value of providing it to consumers as evidenced by AT&T Inc.'s (T) deployment of Weather On Demand with its U-verse TV service in multiple markets.

The carrier has announced Weather On Demand in the San Antonio and Chicago markets. It’s a free, interactive feature provided by AccuWeather.com that AT&T claims allows U-verse TV customers to find the weather information they want, in the city they want, at the time they want.

“We're making it easy for customers to check weather conditions and forecasts in their hometown or across the country, whenever they want,” said Chris Penrose, vice president and general manager of Sales for AT&T South Texas, in prepared comments.

Weather, traffic conditions and local news are among the most coveted forms of local content. Some operators have chosen to offer them first on their customer portals. The value of weather info should not be underestimated as The Weather Channel, and weather.com (a top 10 most-visited site), went on sale last year for an asking price of roughly $4 billion.

Telco TV executives lamented competing against cablecos with local programming at last year’s National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show, but had yet to find away to deliver it without creating or producing it themselves, as Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) found with its yet-to-be-expanded FiOS 1 foray.

Customers first access AccuWeather.com information for their home city and any other U.S. city they specify on their "My Cities" list by tuning to Channel 227, according to AT&T.

U-verse customers can view current local conditions, including high/low temperatures, humidity, wind, visibility and barometric pressure; get local and nationwide forecasts, including hourly and six-day outlooks and access animated local and national radar imagery and satellite views.

They can also, AT&T adds, watch current videos of meteorologists presenting the local weather updates and search and select cities by name, zip code or by looking at a U.S. map.

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