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The Weather Channel has been removed from DirecTV’s lineup and replaced with WeatherNation, a much-smaller channel based in St. Paul, Minn., because the popular weather network reportedly sought a $0.01 monthly rate increase.
DirecTV subscribers told Stop the Cap! the channel change happened just after midnight, although WeatherNation was already a part of DirecTV’s lineup.
“This is unprecedented for the Weather Channel,” said David Kenny, CEO of the Weather Channel’s parent company. “In our 32 years, we have never had a significant disruption due to a failure to reach a carriage agreement.”
The Weather Channel has launched a campaign to restore the network that carries the impression DirecTV does not care about the safety of their customers. The Weather Channel executives have stated their severe weather coverage is unparalleled and would leave satellite dish customers in rural areas without important information about dangerous weather.
But Dan York, responsible for DirecTV content, said weather information is available from a variety of sources, especially smartphones, and The Weather Channel has drifted away from its core weather mission, devoting up to 40 percent of its programming to reality TV shows.
The two sides are far apart, even arguing over the amount of the increase The Weather Channel wants for its programming. Executives at The Weather Channel claim their requested increase amounts to $0.01 per month, per subscriber, on top of the $0.13 average cost distributors pay for the weather network. DirecTV says it is substantially more than that and it seeking a 20% rate cut due to declining ratings.
The Weather Channel lacks the clout major corporate conglomerates like NBC Universal, Time Warner Entertainment, or Viacom have when negotiating contract renewals. Instead, it is counting on its loyal audience to bring the fight to the satellite provider.
So far, viewers seem to be responding. An anti-DirecTV website run by The Weather Channel has received more than 700,000 page views and reportedly brought 150,000 complaint calls to DirecTV customer service.
[flv]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WSJ The Weather Channel Off DirecTV 1-14-14.flv[/flv]
The Wall Street Journal reports the advent of smartphones has taken a significant toll on The Weather Channel’s viewership, leading DirecTV to ask for a 20% rate cut. (4:17)
Haha, pretty funny stuff here:
“The Weather Channel has launched a campaign to restore the network that carries the impression DirecTV does not care about the safety of their customers. The Weather Channel executives have stated their severe weather coverage is unparalleled and would leave satellite dish customers in rural areas without important information about dangerous weather.”
When there is severe weather satellite goes out anyways so no one is watching the weather channel. It is faster to pull up what is going on online anyways than wait for it between reality shows on the weather channel.
The weather channel is a low-value channel and should only be carried for free — everywhere.
Mathematically, $0.14 a month, per subscriber, times 20 million subscribers is… $33.6M a year for information that can be found DOZENS OF OTHER PLACES.
DirecTV should extend the olive branch and offer to carry the channel a la carte…. any subscriber that wants it pays $1.68 a year for it (or whatever rate TWC thinks it would need to be) can get it.
The Weather Channel is a poster child for the breakdown of linear TV. Other than the 40% of reality programming, it’s not episode-based, so it seems to have a real time element, and it does. On the other hand, serving a national market means it has to keep repeating stuff you don’t care about, such as the weather in Texas when you’re in New York. With “smart” cable boxes I’d think you could make something that records weather and news-related programming that is relevant to you and puts together a personal weather report whenever you need it. Personally I’m a… Read more »
I kind of agree with DirecTV. Frankly, I’d rather tune to WeatherNation if I’m going to get weather information now and am not going to have to wade through an episode of Who Wants to Marry a Meteorologist or whatever nonsense it is they air these days.