History of The Weather Channel Network, and the "Forecast Earth"/environmental unit (however, certain portions of the "Forecast Earth" unit remain with TWC). The layoffs took effect on November 30 (The Weather Channel later stated it would air other environmental programs). With the shutdown of NBC Weather Plus that month as a result of NBC Universal's partial acquisition of The Weather Channel, certain meteorologists from the digital broadcast network were eventually integrated into TWC's on-camera weather staff; forecasting, radar and graphics systems used by other NBC Universal television news properties (including NBC News, CNBC and MSNBC) replaced the Weather Plus-branded banner graphics to fit The Weather
History of The Weather Channel special contributor for TWC, providing segments from his frequent travels to weather-impacted locales. Later in 2011, the Intellistar 2, the first STAR unit capable of generating high definition graphics, began to be gradually rolled out to cable providers across the country. The Intellistar 2 is strictly used to generate data and graphics for the "Local on the 8s" segments seen on the high definition feed, while the first-generation Intellistar remains in use to provide weather information on The Weather Channel's standard definition feed. The Weather Channel marked the 30th anniversary of its launch in May 2012. In August 2012, former