GOP - the party of welfare

Look, I think private weather forecasting is viable. Having accurate weather information is valuable to transportation companies, farmers, construction trades, and private individuals, so people will be willing to pay for it. Once the information is out, though, it's pretty easily distributed at very low costs, approaching zero, so weather information looks a lot like a public good. Therefore, there is at least an argument to be made that the government should or could play some role in collecting and disseminating it. A weak argument (remember Coase's findings on light houses), but one that could be plasuibly made.

However, given that the government is already involved in producing this information through the National Weather Service, it seems reasonable that every taxpayer have access to it since we paid for it. So how can Rick Santorum (R-PA) justify restricting access to this information to companies that re-package it?

It's not an easy prospect for a business to attract advertisers, subscribers or investors when the government is providing similar products for free

Yep, his justification is that he wants to protect a cartel. Remember that when you hear about Republicans being the party of free trade.