About Those Dish TV Tornado Warning Ads

Dish TV's web site
I can't remember the last time, if ever, that I have commented on a TV commercial. But, I believe a couple of comments need to be made about the current Dish-TV commercial that depicts a tornado warning. 
Screen capture from Dish commercial depicting
people taking shelter during a tornado warning.
Besides getting the simulated image of a tornado's hook echo wrong, it is important to keep their claims in context when it comes to extreme weather warnings. 

Dish says it is 99% reliable, which means it is out of service 1% of the time. Now, let's do a little math:

.01%  X  365 days  =  3.65 days 
with a service issue

So, out of a 365 day year, Dish would fail nearly 4 days during that year. And, per Dish's web site, those days are most like to be when there is -- wait for it -- extremely bad weather. 
I do not care how you get your TV but it is misleading to imply that consumers can depend on satellite TV (we frequently lost signals when we briefly had DIRECT-TV) during tornadoes, blizzards, flash floods and other extreme weather.

If you have satellite TV or wish to subscribe, fine. Just have at least two of: a weather radio, an app like AccuWeather's, a commercial radio tuned to a station known to have quality weather coverage, or a digital off-air antenna that will allow you to receive local network stations. They will provide the storm warnings you need.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The East Coast Severe Weather Threat is Over

Today's Tornado and Severe Thunderstorm Outlook - 9:30pm

Updated Freezing Rain and Heavy Rain Forecast