COLUMBUS, OHIO: WBNS-TV is set to launch a new, 24/7 local weather multicast channel, The Columbus Dispatchreports. The CBS affiliate will take the new diginet live on June 12, the final deadline for the digital transition, when around 900 TV stations will cease broadcasting in analog.
WBNS, owned by Dispatch Broadcasting Group, is calling the channel--at 10.2--“Doppler 10 Now.” It will feature national AccuWeather coverage, but focus mostly on local conditions as provided by WBNS meteorologists in 10-minute wheels. It will also feature a sort of news ticker dubbed the “Dynamic L Bar,” with conditions in key cities throughout Ohio and the rest of the country. There will forecasts focused on upcoming sporting events.
“It solves a couple of problems for us,” station meteorologist Chris Bradley told the newspaper, a sister platform to WBNS. “Now we have a place where people can go in severe weather and get non-stop, expanded coverage. Meanwhile, we can avoid some of the interruptions on 10TV.”
The local NBC affiliate, WCMH-TV, ran NBC’s WeatherPlus for several years before the network ended the operation. WCMH now multicasts the Retro TV Network instead.
