This pretty well sums up why:
DirecTV: Received "numerous" complaints 40 percent of @weatherchannel programming reality TV: http://t.co/dQ4t8qZX7g
— Capital Weather Gang (@capitalweather) January 11, 2014
That, the constant drum of global warming hype, and the ridiculous naming of winter storms combined with an advertising heavy schedule pretty much drives away most reasonable thinking people.
My friends, John Coleman and Joe D’Aleo, co-founders of the Weather Channel never set it up to be that way, but over the years, it lost its way from their original vision.
See my interview with both of them here on the 30th anniversary.
Now what do I watch on DirecTV? The new far better replacement, WeatherNation TV on channel 361, which is close to the vision of the original TWC founders Coleman and D’Aleo.
Of course, TWC isn’t taking this lying down, they’ve started a Twitter war.
DIRECTV doesn't know the cost of dropping The Weather Channel, but you do. Take action: http://t.co/lNvwjyPSqf pic.twitter.com/HmH21yOehv
— The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) January 11, 2014
The third comment is telling.
http://twitter.com/cshenkel/status/421992414744559618
As is this one:
@weatherchannel way to use human suffering to prove your point.
— Todd Amerman (@Paytodd1) January 11, 2014
@weatherchannel You clowns going to give this storm a stupid marketing name too?
— Young Ideas (@DickYoungsGhost) January 11, 2014
But alas, all this looks to be nothing more than saber rattling in contract negotiations.
http://twitter.com/DIRECTVService/status/422036228569968640
UPDATE:
DirecTV issued the following statement to the Washington Post:
We remain in discussions with The Weather Channel on how to provide its service to our customers at the best value since people now use so many other ways to retrieve weather-related information. We launched WeatherNation (DIRECTV channel 361) as an alternative to provide 24/7 hard news weather coverage in response to numerous customer complaints that more than 40 percent of The Weather Channel’s programming is dedicated to reality television shows. DIRECTV also offers city-by-city weather coverage on more than 1,400 local broadcast stations and on DIRECTV’s emergency channels in times of severe weather.
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Too many commercials, global warming crap and not enough weather. Another NBC screwup. New graphics suck. Too many reality shows. Hate MSNBC news. Won’t miss it.
I have QUIT watching ALL channels that hype AGW. NatGeo and most of those held by Discovery have reached the point of absurdity!
I happened on a show that my wife was watching about the rift valleys of Africa. Until the last five minutes it appeared grounded in scientific fact. Then they threw in their obligatory global warming propaganda. Mind you they are in an “active” rift valley, daily earth quakes, seeping gas in places, water unfit to drink in many places, and we get five minutes of how this area is going to change “Due to Global Warming!” Well what about when the rift opens up wider and the nomads fall in or as a minimum can no longer live in the area? What about the fact there is a very high probability that the rift may open enough to cause an opening large enough to cause a flood of ocean water which in turn washes away the intervening land, making a new sea? Which probably has a higher and would happen sooner than the end effects of AGW or CAGW would cause any harm. These things were not even mentioned – just global warming!
I’m sure that the Dish Network will continue to carry TWC IF DirectTV drops them. We camp in an area that requires us to know what the weather is to bring and local channels just don’t have the technology as TWC. Not sure how this other channel will compare!
I stopped watching the weather channel after they began using the word ‘extreme’ to describe pretty much everything.
I remember last Thanksgiving, we were getting ready to drive from Eastern PA to Michigan. My wife watched TWC and became convinced the entire eastern half of the USA was going to be paralyzed, including all of Western PA and northern OH. I checked several cities along the way on the weather.gov site and the worst I could come up with was “light snow, accumulation 1-3 inches possible”. We made the trip. The roads? Some slush, a short stretch of freezing rain, and lots and lots of salt trucks.
Winter storm Hortence, or whatever blathering name they came up, was a non-event for us.
Maybe they should call them all “Winter Storm Nostradamus” and just assingn roman numerals, like they do to hype the Super Bowl.
leave the weather channel on directv
Naming the flippin’ winter storms was the last straw for me. Now, I just look up Accuweather online.
Anthony Watts says:
January 11, 2014 at 12:03 pm
“@pokerguy sorry about that, I call ‘em as I see ‘em. Still may come to pass though, my guess is that DirecTV is asking TWC to take a big pay cut for carrying it, and TWC is strapped as it is. Who will cave?
Or it may reach an impasse, we can only hope.”
That would be my guess as well. With only 60% weather reporting now, a 40% cut in what they pay for the reality show TWC has created would seem about right. Dish network plays the same game but almost always ends up with a “deal” of some kind being made with the subject channel. Don’t know about DTV, but on Dish one can retrieve forecasts by city or zip code with their interactive tool, which I find useful. The AGW propaganda is all pervasive in any media other than FOX. Unfortunately with it on TWC it gains some believeability with the great unwashed masses.
Heidi cullen put the death nail in TWC years ago as far as im concerned. If directv drops Twc/nbc , It wont be missed.
I stopped watching TWC and surfing across their website over 10 years ago. It doesn’t add much to what I need to know about weather. But if I need the “big picture” regarding weather, that’s what AccuWeather is for.
======================================================================
If they then continued the CAGW hype, you might be right.
If “weather isn’t climate” (unless it can be correctly spun), why does The Weather Channel hype all the “climate change” BS?
French government TV (FT1 thru 4) have chosen a private weather forecast service over their national one. Chosen by tender (appel d’offre)
TWC – Yes they always predict doom and gloom. Naming winter storms – STUPID. Their new look – not very good. Accurate – only if it’s happening right now. When I really want the weather, I can’t find it due to everything else they are showing. Of course, they don’t want to loose DirecTV customers, they will have to lower their advertising rates when they loose 20% of their audience.
Good luck to Weather Nation and hope you stay with the basics – Weather.
The thing I hate the most is how they always interrupt their regularly scheduled program to talk about some severe weather event. Messes up my DVR recording schedule.
Just as bad as Sirius satellite radio dumping TWC from the lineup. I hoped it would have helped out during hurricane evacuations. Sirius now has no US national weather.
Maybe WeatherNation should approach Sirius to get a channel there.
Thank You DirectTV for bringing on Weather Nation, Kind of got sick of The Weather Channel, its nothing but awful shows about the Weather and Experts on an Expert Desk that should be there. Also the naming of Winter Storms became a little much as well. Bravo DirectTV !!
I’m a huge fan of the the forecast discussions on the NWS site. At first it’s like a mini course in meteorology, but once you get used to the tech-speak, abbreviations and acronyms you start to get a better feel for the actual forecast. It’s a great resource during the days leading up to a snowstorm or hurricane. I actually find myself critiquing the local news when they oversimplify a complex and uncertain weather event.
Bill Illis says:
January 12, 2014 at 4:55 am
Here are some of the weather links I am using lately.
Thanks for the links, Bill !!!
Weather Channel is so unfun to watch anymore. I used to like it when they would give local weather info during monsoons here in Tucson. Now you are more likely to have descriptions of nice weather is in the New York to Washington, DC area, instead of how it is storming here. DirectTV…please axe the hell out of them!
“more than 40% of its time” to “reality television shows”. Should that not be 100% of its time?
After all, AGW reporting is firmly in the “reality television” category, i.e supposed to be entertaining, informative and/or funny, but mostly inate and boring.
i do watch the weather channel, thats the first thing i looked up when we got our dish. i did not want to leave COMPUS, husband did. but if you can’t work something out, i have a great chance of getting husband to go back to COMPUS. i am not all that fond of DIRECTV., just haven’t been able to warm up to it. the remote is agravating and just not that great a selection in our package like the simular one was with COMPUS> i know i don’t do well with change so some of it is my problem. but ,by now i should feel better with it. so go ahead and not carry the weather channel, that will help my cause.
The “Weather” Channel has become just like MTV. It used to do what it stated and was a useful service. 24/7 you got WEATHER.
Now you tune in and get weather about 1/3 of the time.
The other 2/3 are reality shows and politics. Climate is not weather. They are feeding the lie of “climate change” and “global warming” by naming every little storm and marketing the heck out of it.
Sorry people of all political beliefs need a place to get a weather forecast that is unbiased.
Thanks for this Sir Watts! I have been unable to stand TWC for over a decade and would have no clue channel 361 was available but for this posting. A search turns up a ‘drive’ by TWC to contact one’s congress man to retain them at DirecTV. I had hoped to send a negatory response, but their software can’t tell who my congressman is from my zip code. Sounds about par for them.
They do have to many commercials and to many reality shows its worse than network TV.
Finally,someone makes sense. I miss the old days when you just watched the weather without all the cute banter and the ridiculous programs you have to sit through waiting on a weather report.Maybe this will wake them up. And by the way are you going to start naming clouds next?Sorry weather channel,your not that important.
TWC tornado emergency coverage is commendable. Much of the rest pretty pedestrian. Reality shows are not terrible, but should go somewhere else.