The Weather Channel feed was switched to show WeatherNation TV just after midnight EST January 14th. the TWC logo is there still in the DirecTV channel lineup, but the content is WeatherNation.
See the proof, this screencap off my TV at 9:02PM PST (12:02 AM EST):
More here:
The explosion of ‘weather channels’ – now there’s 3
DirecTV to drop The Weather Channel?
Update: Ryan Maue caught the zero hour:
http://twitter.com/RyanMaue/status/422959765728145408
Update 2:
The Weather Channel issued this statement by the CEO David Kenny after DirecTV dropped them.
At 12:01 this morning, The Weather Channel is no longer available on DIRECTV, which refused to come to an agreement on a market-based carriage deal. Following is a statement from David Kenny, chairman and CEO of The Weather Company:
This is unprecedented for The Weather Channel. In our 32 years, we have never had a significant disruption due to a failure to reach a carriage agreement. We offered DIRECTV the best rate for our programming, and I am shocked they have put corporate profits ahead of keeping a trusted channel that subscribers rely on every day. We are not looking for a large fee increase. We are simply looking for a fair deal that allows our company to continue to invest in the science and technology that enables us to keep people safe, deliver the world’s best weather, and tell weather stories to help people be prepared and informed.
“At a time when DIRECTV has increased customer rates by 4 percent, they are trading safety for increased profits and replacing the experience and expertise of The Weather Channel with a cheap startup that does weather forecasting on a three-hour taped loop, has no field coverage, no weather experts — certainly not any on par with The Weather Channel network’s industry-recognized experts like tornado expert Dr. Greg Forbes and winter weather expert Tom Niziol — and no experience in severe weather emergencies. This is a dangerous gamble over one penny a month that puts DIRECTV customers at risk.
“This reckless move by DIRECTV will have an impact on our role as part of the national safety and preparedness fabric of our country at a time when the volatility and frequency of weather events seems to be increasing. The Weather Channel partners with humanitarian and emergency management agencies at the local, state and federal levels. We help people prepare before storms, stay safe during their effects, and find help afterward. If the network is not available to viewers, the effectiveness of these partnerships, which help make us a more weather ready nation, are jeopardized. I am hopeful DIRECTV will come to their senses soon and will not force its customers to change carriers to stay safe and informed.”
Source: http://insidecablenews.wordpress.com/2014/01/13/the-weather-channel-drops-off-directv/
Jeez, kool-aid to the very last:
“This reckless move by DIRECTV will have an impact on our role as part of the national safety and preparedness fabric of our country at a time when the volatility and frequency of weather events seems to be increasing.”
It seems as if I am growing a tail. Look, these are supposed to be the weather experts so why can’t they tell us? Is it because they know it’s not so they use the word ‘seems’? Pielke knocked the extreme nonsense on the head in Congress with those devastating graphs. Maybe people have had enough of the Weather Channel CAGW rubbish.
It’s about time someone dropped the Weather Channel. Ever since GE and NBC took over the Weather Channel it has declined in quality to the point that I don’t even watch the station. Naming winter storm fronts is just the latest absurdity from the WC. Good riddance !
Just checked out Weather Nation on the internet and I love it! The only LIVE weather broadcast on the internet.
“and tell weather stories…”
Good God…
Weather Nation is not just an internet channel, nor just a cable channel. Here in the Twin Cities, it’s actually carried on one of the HDTV sub channels of our NBC affiliate, so it’s literally an over the air channel. Pure weather nerdery, with no “stories.”
Is it safe to go outside?
Pat: 13 Jan: Marketwatch: Businesswire Press Release: Green Bond Principles Created to Help Issuers and Investors Deploy Capital for Green Projects
I take a fairly casual approach to watching “green” projects. Most, of which I am aware, fail. Do you suppose they will allow short selling of green bonds??
I was so shocked when the channel changed to WeatherNation and I just had to call Direct TV.
I’m at a hotel, so only get 40 channels, so didn’t get WN
I told them “wow, I hope you leave it on – this channel actually does weather!”
No celebrities, really useful maps and forecasts, no chit-chat, no alarmism (or skepticism), and no TruTV show rejects. Just actual weather conditions and forecasts!
Something similar happened with the original “news” channels that became chit-chat, pundits, and sensational coverage – not even like the old NightLine after the Iranian hostage crisis.
What percentage is actual weather coverage – current conditions and forecasts – about something people need to know now (and I don’t need to see if in Atlanta one of the weather-babe’s tongue will get stuck on a pole since I’m in the Tacoma WA area, or the man who rescued a dog from a flood or was it a mudslide last year).
I don’t need the Weathertainment, Alarmist sermonettes from the first Church of GAIA, or gold or other mineral diggers, wrecker crews, or the other sideshow freaks.
“ossqss says:
January 13, 2014 at 10:03 pm
Chaka, when the walls fell.
It just fits. Metaphorically speaking 😢
REPLY: TWC, eyes wide open! – Anthony”
OMG…You guys are such nerds!
@jim Clarke – Thank god! Without a bit of laughter, we would all be so dull!
jai mitchell says:
January 11, 2014 at 5:30 pm
the weather channel provides excellent real time monitoring of tornado developments in real time.
I couldn’t imagine living in tornado alley and not having access to their up to date information.
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Totally agree. Even though I don’t have DirecTV, that’s why I’m siding with those against this bad decision on DirecTV’s part.
As far as climate change is concerned, the fact that there’s worldwide news of record heat waves, droughts and extreme weather patterns, is why I believe that climate change is real and not a hoax.
I found the local stations much more responsive to the local alerts and threats than the TWC – they do not seem to think we exist.
Now granted we are not a top 50 media market. But then that majority of Direct TVs clients are not in them either, as they serve mostly rural customers who do not have the advantage of Cable or FiOS. Direct TV is just using business sense.
I wish they’d do that on Time-Warner. I’d just like a basic forecast for my area, and I can’t even get Local on the 8s anymore. The so-called graphics at the bottom of the screen are useless. TWC jumped the shark and doesn’t actually do meaningful weather anymore.
tz2026 says:
January 14, 2014 at 6:12 am
Indeed!
As a mining engineer I was LIVID when watching the irresponsible, illogical, and irrational way those so-called “miners” were “digging for gold” (it certainly wasn’t “mining”!).
I got so disgusted I had to turn it off–that, or risk losing a TV set with a thrown object.
The rest of the content at TWC was just about as bad.
I have no TV feed of any kind – so now am I in danger? On travel in hotels I occasionally look for weather info on TV for last minute local info for where I’m at or going, but long ago I gave up TWC as worthwhile for even that.
At TWC website, they are touting that over 7.5 remain to contact DirecTV.
http://www.keeptheweatherchannel.com/
They still can’t locate my congressman by my zip code.
My wife and I have The Weather Channel on our cable system (Verizon Fios), but we never watch it. December 16 to 20, we were at the Killington ski resort, and in the morning before I went out to ski, I wanted to get the Weather on the TV in our condo (trail Creek).
I’m not sure when The Weather Channel has the weather, we never saw it. Admittedly, we went to the channel, looked to see if they had weather, and then went back to Fox News and got the weather online, so maybe if I had waited and watched for ten minutes, they would have had it, but I was trying to get ready to go ski, and was not about to kill ten or twenty minutes staring at the stupid TV when I didn’t have any idea when or if the weather would be on.
The chances that Verizon Fios will carry Weather Nation are slim since it is provided by a competitor, but maybe they will get the idea, and get something like it that is all weather all the time.
The Weather Channel’s Local on the 8s never worked when we had DirecTV service…just saw national. Plus, as many people have pointed out, DirecTV always fails during any weather or geese flying over the dish. 🙂 I’m very annoyed with the Weather Channel both on TV and on the internet. It seems that they talk or display stories that have absolutely nothing to do with the weather, not to mention their alarmist attitude. Hope DirecTV keeps saying no and supports a real weather broadcast.
Pat quoted the Weather Channel silliness, “It can’t continue to build up the sea level and the heat in one part of the ocean at the expense of another,” Trenberth said. “At some point all of that water wants to slop back to the east…”
Oh, dear. Kevin Trenberth is one of the biggest names in climatology. Can he really not know that gravity balances mass, not volume? Thermal expansion of the upper layers of the ocean causes it to bulge up in place, like an iceberg. If and when it cools, it sinks in place. Neither the change causes any lateral flow of water, so sea-levels elsewhere are unaffected.
“This reckless move by DIRECTV will have an impact on our role as part of the national safety and preparedness fabric of our country at a time when the volatility and frequency of weather events seems to be increasing.”
He must have gotten this statement from the same left wing operatives who complained during the government shutdown.
This makes me like the Weather Channel even less than I did before. Didn’t think that was possible.
(Pssst…to the Weather Channel…wake up! Everyone gets the weather from their smartphone these days…they don’t need you at all.)
If you are a purist, restart the DVR, and it will purge the old icons. Years ago, when they changed from XM to SonicTap for the music channels, the old icons stayed up until the next restart. I hope they stay with WN. It is a little retro, but I got tired of programming rather than WX.
I just noticed that another Todd (Twin Cities) has posted above. I posted about Killington, VT cable.
That’s why I haven’t watched any weather channel in years. When I want a weather forecast I can get one from multiple sources instantly (Pc, phone, tablet), instead of having to wait for something like TWC to get around to my local weather.
On a tangential note… It would be REALLY nice if ANY weather forecasting outlet would put percentage probabilities of an extended forecast being “right”. Most forecasts 3 days out are going to be practically useless, 10 days, forget it. We need some honesty in these forecasts.
“Chaka, when the walls fell.
It just fits. Metaphorically speaking 😢
REPLY: TWC, eyes wide open! – Anthony”
being a long time ST nerd, (all of it), this post made me laugh more than just about any other I’ve seen here!
I liked this phrase, “We are not looking for a large fee increase. We are simply looking for a fair deal that allows our company to continue to invest in the science and technology that enables us to keep people safe, deliver the world’s best weather …”
Ummm … they don’t “deliver weather” to us. All they do is talk about the weather, perhaps 10% of their broadcast time.
Does David Kenny, chairman and CEO of The Weather Company live in an area like Podunk Ar (made up name) ?? Has he spent an afternoon watching TV off of ONLY DirectTV and any other satellite or Cable?? I think not. First you rarely even get a NWS warning of emergent hazardous conditions. If and when you do, when you turn to any weather channel, INCLUDING TWC you get either A. a reality show, B. Global Warming propaganda disguised as a documentary, C. the weather for Adak Alaska or NYC and if you are lucky since they know you are from AR, you get the weather for Little Rock. Sometimes there may be a crawler giving you the high, low and tomorrows prediction. OR, D. a gray, snowy screen.
And this is their excuse for stating that you need TWC to save lives?
Looking back to when my cable company had TWC in it’s line up and we were forced to watch it as our only source for weather reports, I found it COMPLETELY useless. At the time they were based in Atlanta, Georgia (maybe they still are, I just don’t know because I’ve found another source for my weather that is far more accurate in the Weather Underground) I’m sure they were accurate there, but an unmitigated disaster everywhere else. I can remember quite clearly watching TWC and having them tell us, where we lived at the time, that it was a beautiful sunshiny day, when in fact is was miserable and pouring cats and dogs. You just can’t get any more inaccurate than that! I realize that weather predictions are, at best, only about 30% accurate, but I seriously doubt that TWC came anywhere near 5% in their predictions or real time weather.
Also if you add in their propensity for backing AGW falsehoods, it lends even less credence to their agenda.
Oh dear. This is truly distressing. How ever will I keep up with the names of winter storms?
Chaka, when the walls fell.
It just fits. Metaphorically speaking 😢
REPLY: TWC, eyes wide open! – Anthony
Damn you both for making me spew my coffee!
You get my yuk yuk of the week award with that one..
Captain Picard would be proud….