The Weather Channel launches Spanish-language streamer

The Weather Channel has launched a free, ad-supported stream offering U.S. weather information in Spanish 24 hours a day.

The Weather Channel En Español, which shares a logo with its parent network with the word “in Spanish” tagline tucked underneath, also got its own dedicated studio space inside the network’s headquarters in Atlanta.

Entertainment Studios, the network’s parent, hired major names in Spanish-language forecasting from Telemundo and Univision, including Lorena Lim, Albert Martinez, Henry Golac, Milmar Ramirez, Jessica Fernandez and Abel Hernandez.

The studio created for the service features a wraparound seamless video wall, curved presentation station and a wild monitor unit as well as hard scenic walls with horizontal bands and the channel logo mounted in a prominent niche-like bump out. 

Integrated color changing lighting lets the space shift color schemes, including a deeper, more sophisticated blue one most appropriate for evenings and a lighter, brighter one for morning hours, for example. 

The service is only available via OTT streaming services and the network’s smart device app, but is not on any cable systems. 

“The Hispanic marketplace is indexing extremely well with streaming services and is severely underserved,” said Entertainment Studios chief Byron Allen in a statement. “Our launch of The Weather Channel en Español is historic, and is a recognition of the continued and significant growth of the U.S. Hispanic population and the constant need to keep the entire public informed and safe as multi-billion dollar weather disasters are on the rise — especially in communities where Spanish is spoken as both the primary and secondary language in millions of households throughout America.”

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The network will offer both anchored and graphical forecasts and updates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with extended live coverage as needed when severe weather strikes. It will also partner with its English-language counterpart on projects and content. 

It’s already collaborated on a “Next 40 Years” virtual explainer that its parent network is using to mark its 40th anniversary, producing its own version using Spanish-speaking talent set inside of the same virtual scenes. 

The Weather Channel en Español joins two other large scale weather streamers — AccuWeather Now and Fox Weather, though both of those are only offered in English.

TWC can also be streamed to subscribers of pay TV packages using TV Everywhere authentication and portions of Fox Weather is broadcast on select over the air digital subchannels and MyNetworkTV affiliates controlled by Fox owned stations.