If you’ve watched CBS News morning programming recently, you may have noticed on-air meteorologists from The Weather Channel occasionally appearing to deliver national weather news.
Well, CBS News and the Weather Channel formalized their partnership on Monday, announcing a new content collaboration that will bring enhanced weather and climate reporting from TWC to CBS News viewers across the world. According to CBS, this new partnership “combines the expertise and technology of two award-winning news organizations to provide viewers with leading in-depth weather reporting and immersive storytelling.”
What can we expect from the content and technology partnership? TWC will provide its Immersive Mixed Reality (IMR) technology to CBS News broadcasts, giving the audience a “Virtual View” into American communities’ weather conditions.
“By deploying HDR, 360° cameras, camera tracking and the “Unreal Engine, Zero Density Reality Hub,” the IMR technology allows viewers to visualize future weather forecasts—to see how snow, rain, floods or tornadoes can affect a community before the conditions arrive,” CBS News said in a press release.
The reports originate from the Weather Channel’s headquarters in Atlanta, and the partnership also draws upon live reporting from TWC meteorologists Stephanie Abrams, Jim Cantore and Mike Bettes, as well as the entire Weather Channel, and meteorological and newsgathering team.
The Weather Channel’s reports will be featured during CBS Mornings, as well as CBS Saturday Morning and CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell. The CBS News Streaming Network will also showcase regular reports from the Weather Channel. The CBS News investigative team and the Weather Channel’s meteorological and newsgathering teams will also partner on special investigative climate reports.
“By bringing together CBS News and the Weather Channel’s weather teams and virtual view technology, we will not only be able to forecast the weather but show viewers what it’s really going to look like,” said CBS News chief Neeraj Khemlani said in a statement. “This is a holistic partnership that brings together the scale of both companies’ reporting teams, technologies and audiences.”
In addition to the virtual forecasts and live reporting, CBS and TWC will also collaborate on field reporting and pair the network’s respective investigative teams to expand environmental investigative reporting.
“This year, the Weather Channel celebrates its 40th anniversary—and there’s never been a more important time to provide viewers cutting-edge visual presentations and compelling storytelling about our weather,” said The Weather Channel chairman and CEO Byron Allen. “This new collaboration is designed to offer the CBS News audience the most innovative weather reporting, as well as greater reach for the Weather Channel’s brand.”