AccuWeather predicts ‘above average’ 2021 hurricane season Spanish-language TV giant launches streaming service
After the historic tropical storm production of 2020, meteorologists predict 2021 could be another overly productive hurricane season.
Weather site AccuWeather forecasts 16 to 20 named storm for the 2021 Atlantic Hurricane season that officially runs from June 1-Nov. 30.
The typical season produces 12 named storms, of which 6 become hurricanes, including 3 major hurricanes, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
AccuWeather forecasts not only more tropical storm production, but also plenty more hurricanes with a prediction of seven to 10 hurricanes, with three to five predicted to become major hurricanes, which are storms of at least Category 3 strength and have max sustained winds of 111 mph or greater.
Last year, prior to hurricane season, the NOAA madeapredictionof13to19namedstorms,ofwhich six to 10 could become hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or higher), and three to six of those becoming major hurricanes. However the 2020 season defied all predictions with an unheard of 30 tropical storms with 13 hurricanes; six of which were major storms.
An expert from the University of Miami found that the Atlantic has entered a “new normal” in storm production, based on a 30-year average from 1991 to 2020.
“Current indications are this will be another above-normal season,” said Dan Kottlowski, who led the AccuWeather team in this prediction. “This can translate into high impacts on the United States.”
The team studied current weather patterns and compared them to long-range climate models to make a determination about what might happen during the peak of hurricane season, which falls between mid-August and mid-October.
One of the troubling tea leaves AccuWeather examined was the already high sea-surface temperature reaching above-normal levels in the northern Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico.
Temperatures were taken off the coast of Key West and were found to be 81.5 degrees, or five degrees above normal. While the temperature is high, it’s not as high as 2020’s, which averaged 87.8, AccuWeather reported.
Water temperatures, though, were found to be cooler than normal in the Gulf of Mexico.
“However, those water temperatures are expected to increase by the time the season begins,” AccuWeather stated.
The U.S. is predicted to experience three to five landfalling storms this season, according to AccuWeather. One reason why that might be possible is due to a weaker Bermuda High, which is a high-pressure zone and was responsible for steering several storms into the Gulf of Mexico and away from Florida.
Univision Communications is launching its own streaming service, PrendeTV.
Univision Communications is making an ambitious push into streaming with PrendeTV, an advertising-supported Spanish-language service with more than three dozen live television channels and a deep library of on-demand programs.
The recent launch of PrendeTV comes just three months after a new ownership group took control of Univision with a goal of returning the storied Spanish-language broadcaster to prominence. The company stumbled during its 14-year ownership by private equity investors who were slow to recognize generational changes in TV viewership — and the rise of Netflix.
Univision, based in Miami, is promoting PrendeTV as the first U.S. streaming service stocked entirely with Spanishlanguage programming.
Unlike many of its competitors — including Netflix, FuboTV, Sling TV and AT&T TV — the PrendeTV app can be downloaded and watched for free. Univision believes ad-supported platforms will have the biggest potential for growth, and it has signed up such major advertisers as McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Toyota, Chase bank and Walmart to help support the programming, according to Univision’s president and chief transformation officer, Pierluigi Gazzolo.
Univision’s high-stakes gamble on streaming comes amid declines in traditional television viewership. Its longtime rival, Telemundo, also is seeking to engage Latinos with its offerings on NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service, which is available for $4.99 a month.
Univision’s new service provides livestreams of its two over-the-air broadcast TV networks — Univision and UniMas — but not the company’s popular cable TV channels.
At launch, the service will offer more than 40 entertainment channels, including movies, sports and children’s programming. It also will have 11,000 hours of on-demand library content, which includes shows from Univision and Mexico City-based Grupo Televisa (a minority owner of Univision), as well as Brooklyn-based FilmRise and international powerhouses Caracol TV in Colombia and Rede Globo in Brazil.
Prende (which in English means to “turn on”) will eventually have more than 150 films from Hollywood studios, including Walt Disney Co., Lionsgate and MGM.
At launch, the service will have nine telenovela channels; seven movie channels, including “Cine Boom” and “Cine Hollywood”; and three family channels. It also will offer soccer channels including “Liga Mex” and “Futbol Europeo.”
PrendeTV will be available to users of Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and iPhone, as well as Google’s Android phones and TV. Gazzolo said Univision has been negotiating a distribution deal with Roku.
This isn’t Univision’s first foray into streaming. The broadcaster previously experimented with platforms devoted to the company’s programming, including its melodramatic soap operas. And nearly two months ago, Univision bought another ad-supported independent streaming platform — VIX TV — which has over 20,000 hours of Spanish-language programming. Univision plans to combine VIX with PrendeTV.