You’d think CNN+ wouldn’t come with a live stream of CNN the cable channel, right? Well, it’s not, and that’s likely a factor in CNN+’s surprisingly quick demise over the past month. However, the Weather Channel’s new direct-to-consumer app doesn’t repeat CNN+’s mistake.
The Weather Channel TV app launched without fanfare (as first reported by The Streamable) a few weeks ago, and it Is offer a live feed of the weather channel on basic cable. Best of all, anyone can sign up for the app, no cable subscription needed.
Although you don’t have to authenticate with a pay TV to use The Weather Channel TV app, you will have to shell out some money. The service costs $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year, after a seven-day free trial.
The Weather Channel app is also only available on five connected TV platforms: Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Samsung Smart TVs and Xfinity Flex, leaving Apple TV users dry. The app is also not available on desktop computers or smartphones.
The Weather Channel TV app offers many of the features you’d expect from a weather app, including severe weather alerts, current conditions and local forecasts, full-screen weather and radar maps, and weather videos. on-demand news and original shows.
But the app’s best feature is both obvious and simple: a live stream of The Weather Channel, the same as what’s on basic cable, except you no longer need a subscription. to cable to watch it.
CNN+ hit the scene in March with a decent amount of live news coverage and a handful of original programming. However, crucially and confusingly, the streaming service did not offer simulcasting of flagship cable channel CNN.
CNN executives (many of them now gone following the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger) argued that CNN+ was for CNN’s “superfans,” but only a handful of news fanatics are featured, and CNN+ shut down less than a month after its debut.
There’s another “plus” service with a CNN+-like problem: ESPN+, which offers its fair share of live sports (including Monday Night Football) and on-demand shows, but no ESPN live streaming. , ESPN2 or ESPN’s other cable channels (although there are signs that a streaming EPSN service may be coming soon).
But while The Weather Channel TV app isn’t a “plus” like CNN+ or ESPN+, it doesn’t have to be – it just is. is The Weather Channel, in all its wind-whipped glory. Talk about a streaming service that sells itself.
