Weather Channel unleashes more self-aggrandizing hyperbole in fight with cable network

[KurtNYC]

The Weather Channel's contract with DirecTV expires at midnight Monday and the two companies are at an impasse, meaning DirecTV subscribers could lose The Weather Channel from their lineup on Tuesday if no deal is made. TWC execs say they are asking for a "negligible increase for the life-saving information that we offer."

The Weather Channel is suggesting people call their public representatives to demand they keep the network, even suggesting it's a quasi-public utility.
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And maybe I would buy that line of argument if The Weather Channel hadn't replaced so much of their weather coverage with reality shows, something viewers have complained to me about endlessly. Also, there are local TV weather forecasters and the National Weather Service.
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That's all well and good but this fight is with a satellite company and when there's a big storm, your satellite service goes out so you're not going to see The Weather Channel anyway!

http://communityvoices.post-gazette.com/arts-entertainment-living/tuned-in/item/37655-press-tour-fight-fight-fight-weather-channel-vs-directv

So Romney/Bain's The Weather Channel is claiming to be some kind of critical public service and have unleashed the hyperbole. To me they are quickly becoming the channel that cried wolf. They have taken it upon themselves to name winter storms (with tie-in names like "Gandolf&quot and National Weather Service has denounced them for doing so. The hysteria on their website isn't limited to the 'impending doom' of a little snow in January but also to the "news" headline teasers they now use: "Woman found WHAT in her bathroom !?"

In their current dispute, TWC projects their own ego onto DirecTV asking people to call their congress critters and "DON'T LET DIRECTV CONTROL THE WEATHER!"

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

1. DirecTV has Weather Nation

They just started on channel 361. I've been enjoying their low key, non sensationalized weather reports and 24 hour weather instead of having to sit thru Storm Stories.

[bullwinkle428]

2. The slow evolution of TWC's website into some weird "Weekly World News" hybrid

is the thing that's been pissing me off about them more than anything else lately.

[Renew Deal]

5. I agree completely

It's a sensationalized freak-show

[HereSince1628]

3. Weather Channel was one of the Time-Warner channel that required 'special digital equipment'

that change supposedly allowed TWC to move toward 'optimizing' its use of available channels.

We opted out of special equipment, as we already had a digital television and saw no point in going there, so we haven't had weather channel since early last fall.

[MuseRider]

4. Barely even knew it was there.

When I need weather info I check locally with the NOAA site. TWC will not be missed.

[KurtNYC]

6. Had a job answering phones for a millionaire guy once

and I got a quick call which said only "Tell him NOAA called about the boat...got it?...bye"

I heard "Noah" and wasn't sure if it was an unstable person, a joke or his friend being funny so I wrote: "Pls call Noah re: the boat."

[MuseRider]

16. :-) n/t

[underpants]

8. TWC's content comes from NOAA

It always has. The guy who created TWC is from Richmond Va I have heard.

Great idea - taxpayer paid for info, just add better graphics and create your own "personalities".

BTW- a telltale sign that you are talking to a conservative (aside from not getting sarcasm & irony) is disdain for weather reports and citing Accuweather or anything other than NOAA or TWC.

[MuseRider]

17. I will stick with my local

National Weather Service. Nothing is better during tornado season than reports from those who live here.

Watching TWC has become so much like watching morning shows on CBS, NBC...you know what I mean. Mindless readers, always pretty attractive with a few who go out into the danger just to keep you on your toes....oh how I would be so upset if so and so was hurt standing out in that hurricane.

They DO have some great researchers. Really good information if you can stand wading through all the silly stuff.

Mixed bag I guess but I stand with my local services when there are tornados in the sky. underpants

[johnsolaris]

7. New Owners

Hi,

The Weather Channel was purchased by Universal a while back, the parent company of NBC. These people see a channel in their minds that is under used & needs Programming, Hence the new look of TWC. That is why you have all the new reality shows, Prospectors & that Alaska rescue coast guard thing & the morning show with Al Roker of NBC.

With the new Direct TV cable box you can get a quick forecast by pushing one of the special buttons on your remote. However, when I need a weather forecast, I now get it off the Internet by going to NOAA, Weather Underground, or Intellicast. All have a far better complete forecast than TWC & I do not have to see Reality Show Programming from Universal.

[KurtNYC]

10. Since 2008, TWC is owned jointly by NBC-Universal, Blackstone and Bain

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weather_Channel#Sale_to_NBCUniversal

[DJ13]

11. And who owns NBC/Universal?

Comcast.

Could they be trying to drive the costs up on a competitor here?

[Vashta Nerada]

9. I have never once watched The Weather Channel during severe storms in my area.

The local channels cover storms so much better.

F The Weather Channel. Let them go, DirecTV (does satellite tv even work during severe storms???).

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

14. "Does satellite tv even work during severe storms???"

Yes, only very, very heavy rain falling directly towards the dish or snow freezing over the dish will cause it to fade....which often happens to cable if the same conditions are where your company's dish is located.

[glowing]

12. I click weather on my phone and it tells me for the day and the week what to expect.

There's also a 24hr local news channel that is on our BrightHouse cable (and yep, they use accuweather), they show the weather every 9mins and during commute times the traffic conditions behind it, if I'm really in the mood for it. But the phone is where I go most of the time; one touch and I know. Also, if I'm traveling to another location, I can add the new location weather into the menu and have that info before I travel or while I'm at the new location. I don't know too many people with a smart phone, my age and younger, who don't tap the weather info box for this info.

If we are expecting a nasty weather system, like tornados or strong lightening/ thunder and gusty winds, I will get an alert on my phone advising me of the bad weather that is about to hit. A hurricane, we will know about in advanced enough time to semi-prepare for it (no one can fully prepare for a storm like that - but we can certainly make plans and buy supplies and make sure we have full tanks of gas and full phone charges on our batteries - so we can get updates about the storm conditions when the electricity goes out).

It's amazing the technology we have in the form of a small, hand-held device, with access to the Internet, text, e-mail, phone, and easy App accesses for alerts and tweets and Facebook. And now, alternative TV show access from places like NetFlix is delivering Golden Globe winning shows. The need to pay for bulky cable packages is going to slip away once these alternative web-based TV show/ movie access companies sign contracts with sports packages and open air network channels (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, and PBS).

If cable channels and cable providers want to stay relevant, they will begin designing Internet based access, on customers time schedule, and with faster highspeed: high definition downloading. In another 10 or 20 yrs, cable TV will be a thing of the past. People will watch the shows they want to when they want to around their time schedule and they will pay for a general access pass to access certain types of TV, local news networks, specialty shows, and movie passes. The only thing keeping cable relevant at the moment is limited access to sports and limited highspeed Internet across America.

Customers like my parents who live in rural VT and can only access TV with a dish because cable refuses to run access to their town (cost vs profit margin makes their town non-cabled), will go from a dish set up to some sort of highspeed Internet access to give them TV. They will probably not have an inbetween of cable box to Internet TV, living where they do.

For my husband, we would have dropped a cable box by now if the Internet TV providers had a sports package and a "cable/ dish" type of channel option line up. It will happen. The rush to make this type of access will only get better and become cheaper over time. And then, I hopefully, I won't see networks/ cable channels fighting with the providers over contract prices. Wealthy company 1 asking wealthy company 2 for people watching to get involved in their greedy squabble isn't exactly something they are smartly doing! It pisses everyone off that with all their smart CEO's making millions and their lawyers making millions, that they can't figure out how to negotiate a contract fairly, so they decide to take the people paying both of their salaries hostage over their greed. Disgusting!

[lpbk2713]

13. TWC is a useless waste of time AFAIC

The only time I usually tune in to TWC is on the weekends in order to see what I can plan my weekend activities around. They have something they call "Weather on the Eights" which is supposed to give a brief forecast along with the doppler radar specific to the area you are watching from. Most of the time when I tune in to get an idea what to expect I see something like a Coast Guard rescue opeartion instead. Don't get me wrong, the CG is a great outfit and I would certainly be grateful for them being there when I needed them. But if TWC says they are going to give a local forecast every ten minutes then they ought to live up to their word and give the viewers something they can depend on. After tuning in so many times and not getting a local forecast I have now made it a habit to go to the NOAA website instead (where TWC gets their info from anyhow).

Here's a NOAA link in case anyone is interested {Link to NOAA Website}

Just enter the city or ZIP in the upper left corner.

[TroglodyteScholar]

15. TWC can take a hike

Worthless for what, a decade or more now?

[KurtNYC]

18. ** UPDATE ** Contract expired at midnight and TWC is off of DirecTV

The Weather Channel went public on Friday with the campaign against DirecTV. The company said its anti-DirecTV Web site has received more than 700,000 page views and generated about 150,000 phone calls to DirecTV's phone banks.

While York disagreed with the claims put forward by the Weather Channel about possibly depriving viewers of emergency information, he acknowledged this: he has never seen a marketing campaign like it.

http://money.cnn.com/2014/01/13/news/companies/weather-channel-directv/