Litton Entertainment will offer TV stations six preseason episodes of “Storm Stories,” which will be available to incumbents for use during the summer.
The barter-free half-hour episodes will come with promos, scripts for voice-over customization or drop-in weather updates. In addition, Litton will provide stations with customizable sales reels that allow them to replace green-screen shots with their own weather teams for ad sales and sponsorship propositions.
The stations signed up include WABC-TV in New York; KCAL-TV/KCBS-TV in Los Angeles; WGN-TV in Chicago; KYW-TV in Philadelphia; WJBK-TV in Detroit; WSB-TV in Atlanta; WTSP-TV in Tampa, Fla.; WJW-TV in Cleveland; KPHO-TV in Phoenix; KUSA-TV in Denver; WESH-TV in Orlando, Fla.; KXTV-TV in Sacramento, Calif.; KSDK-TV in St. Louis; WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh; and WJZ-TV in Baltimore.
CBS, ABC, Tribune, Fox, Gannett, Cox, Hearst, Weigel, Media General, Clear Channel, Sinclair and Scripps are among the represented station groups.
“Storm Stories” will cover the Oklahoma tornadoes, the Crater Lake avalanche, the Laguna landslide and the Semester at Sea storm. The unscripted series has cleared in 92% of U.S. stations.
“What a great way for stations to profile their own weather coverage to their advantage. ‘Storm Stories’ is the ideal human drama vehicle that portrays the worst of nature, and the best of man. Stations can voice over the shows using their own meteorologists, or customize with timely weather drop-ins,” Litton President-CEO Dave Morgan said in a statement.