The Weather Channel has raised the price of its standalone streaming app by 66.7 per cent, taking the monthly cost from $3 to $5 and the annual cost from $30 to $50 (a rise of up to $20 a year). The app, launched in May 2022 and available on Android TV, Fire TV, Roku and Samsung TVs, lets viewers livestream the network and access on-demand shows, local forecasts, maps, radars and news without a cable or satellite subscription. The increase matters as another example of legacy broadcasters struggling to price streaming services in a way that is both attractive to users and profitable.

The new $5 monthly fee matches what owner Allen Media Group, which bought the network in 2018, had once intended to charge for The Weather Channel Plus, a proposed service touting more than 50 streaming channels that never launched. Instead, revenue now comes solely from the original, more limited app. The channel faces stiff competition from free and paid rivals — including Weather.com and The Weather Channel's own mobile apps, which are separately owned by private equity firm Francisco Partners — as well as local news and smart home devices, while likely contending with declining broadcast advertising income.