The Weather Channel has plans to start forecasting football weather in mixed reality as a way to show viewers the conditions that players have to endure during the game.
According to Axios, The Weather Channel plans to use mixed reality technology in 80% of its programming by 2020.
In a demo video acquired by Axios, meteorologists are able to use technology to show how different weather conditions are affecting plays during the game. Given that most football games are still held outside, the weather can potentially have a significant impact on how the game is played.
While this is the first time the channel has shown video of the impact of weather on sports, it’s not the first mixed-reality video it has produced. In September, The Weather Channel released a viral video showing what could potentially happen with the storm surge from Hurricane Florence. It also previously created a video showing what might happen in a wildfire as well as the impact of a tornado.
Comedian Byron Allen purchased The Weather Channel for $300 million in March. At the time, Byron said he made the purchase because of the reach and familiarity of the brand and that he hoped to expand the channel’s international and local distribution. The channel was previously owned by Blackstone Group, Bain Capital, and Comcast Corp., who purchased the channel in 2008 for $3.5 billion.