Fox News launching its own mobile-friendly weather service

New York, Oct. 24 (BUS): Fox News Media has entered another difficult world – the weather.

The company is launching Fox Weather, a free streaming service and app that it expects customers will use frequently on their mobile devices.

In preparation for Monday’s start, Fox has built a staff, plucking personnel from The Weather Channel and markets in New York, Houston, Phoenix, Miami, Charlotte, North Carolina, and elsewhere.

Experts say advances in weather technology and interest from climate change and more powerful storms have made weather news a popular area to invest in.

“Everything we’re talking about is,” said Shari Berg, president of Fox Weather. “We can also build a platform for that.”

Fox Weather is moving into a market dominated by longtime players like The Weather Channel and AccuWeather — both of which have been busy building their new products — as well as aggressive niche players, the Associated Press (AP) reports.

When Berg scrolls through the weather apps, she says she sees several specialized services that focus on things like surf or wind conditions. Besides convenience and clarity, Berg said one of Fox’s main selling points will offer a single destination for people to get many things — local forecasts (with 3D radar), severe weather warnings, weather news stories, and video streaming. It works like a traditional TV network.

“It’s not about reinventing the way you tell the weather story, it’s just making it better,” said Steve Barron, Fox Weather’s senior vice president of digital products and strategy.

Byron Allen, owner of The Weather Channel, seemed almost pissed off at the prospect of another contender.

“I’m just a Detroit kid pushing myself to be in competition with Rupert Murdoch, one of the greatest media moguls of all time,” Allen said. “This is an honor for me.

“I would have been disappointed if he hadn’t come to airspace, because it’s a wonderful space, and it’s an important space,” he said. “We certainly don’t mind competition.”

Next year, The Weather Channel is introducing subscription-based streaming services so that people who have given up cable can access their programming. It will also launch a Spanish-language broadcasting service.

Allen points to consumer surveys rating The Weather Channel highly as a source of information. “They know we are reliable and reliable,” he said. “You don’t get that overnight. It’s learned.”

Similarly, Jonathan Porter, senior vice president and meteorologist at AccuWeather, pointed to the accurate forecasting services the company has built over many years that are being provided to consumers and businesses — even to the many Fox-owned television stations.

“Fox will have to prove it can make up for not having all these capabilities when it launches,” Porter said.

Some Fox News Media products – such as Fox Business Network and Fox Nation – are ideologically convenient for viewers of the main Fox News channel. This raises the question of whether the same is true of Fox Weather. While executives at both The Weather Channel and AccuWeather have emphasized that their services pay attention to the impact of climate change on the world’s weather, many Fox News commentators have expressed skepticism about this.

We don’t discuss it or ignore it,” Berg said. “It’s part of the way we live now. We’re going to translate it and build it on science and data, and that’s what we’re focused on. This is a 100% pure weather product and a weather-focused platform.”

In addition to more powerful storms and larger wildfires, the science of forecasting has also changed. Newly powerful computer technology has greatly improved predictability, and experts say this has also led to increased interest among consumers.

AccuWeather, for example, introduced its MinuteCast service in 2016, and has steadily improved it since, providing highly accurate forecasts for, say, when it will start to rain on one side of a city. There is no way a similar service could have operated two decades ago, Porter said.

Besides technology, Berg said she believes Fox is building a weather news team that is second to none.

“I think Fox Weather is entering the weather realm at the right time, and I think we’re building it on the right platform,” she said.

RAE