Weather Channel To DirecTV: Meet Our Cost Demands Or EVERYONE WILL DIE!
from the storming-out-of-your-contract dept
In previous stories where a television channel goes to war with DirecTV and its peers, the mantra by the channel requesting a higher contract is typically the same: our entertainment provides value beyond what we're paid. That was the case when Viacom held its fans hostage in one such dispute, for instance, or when the far-more-sane AMC had a similar dispute. The point is that it always seems to come down to nothing more than money, where the dispute is over how much monetary value a channel has to a broadcaster. Nothing more, nothing less.
Not so, when it comes to the Weather Channel's dispute with DirecTV. Sure, they similarly want more money, but their response campaign to DirecTV bristling at the request while offering a different, televised weather channel is, shall we say, slightly more melodramatic and massively more aggressive.
Usually when cable channels and distributors go to war over money, the two sides warn customers that a blackout will be inconvenient. This time, the Weather Channel is saying it'll be downright dangerous. The channel has tried to rally the public's support by reminding people that it is an emergency lifeline during severe weather.Hmm, so the idea is that if DirecTV doesn't meet the Weather Channel's price demands, the weather monster is going to kill everyone? That'd be one hell of a provocative argument to make if it wasn't made, you know, at the damned website from which everyone can also get that life-saving information. The argument not only pretends that DirecTV isn't offering a different weather channel that would serve a similar function, or that there are various web-based methods for getting weather reports and alerts via computer and/or smartphone and mobile device, but it also ignores the Weather Channel's own services.
"The Weather Channel isn't just another TV network. It's a must-have resource that keeps families safe," proclaimed a headline on Weather.com.
This irony doesn't appear to be lost on DirecTV.
DirecTV executives say that, contrary to the Weather Channel's positioning, there are many other sources for urgent weather news these days, including WeatherNation.I don't know what the actual outcome of this dispute will be, but it would appear the emotional argument that everyone is going to die without the Weather Channel on DirecTV is one that should and will fall flat on its face. Good try, though, guys.
"When information is readily available everywhere, it's no longer necessary for people to have to pay a premium," York said in a telephone interview. He also asserted that the Weather Channel devotes up to 40 percent of its programming schedule to "reality TV shows."
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Filed Under: contracts, disputes, tv, weather
Companies: directv, the weather channel
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looks out the damn window
who needs em.
let eat unemployment and we all get more reality sucks er reality tv
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Fact is, TWC is far less valuable a service than it was even pre-smartphone (let alone pre-internet).
Also, they should be VERY careful about saying how calamitous the result of them not being on air would be. If they are so critical to the survival of the nation they should be nationalized and turned into a utility. Good thing for their shareholders they really aren't that important....
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The Real Weather Business. (to John Fenderson, #8)
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Re: The Real Weather Business. (to John Fenderson, #8)
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Re: Re: The Real Weather Business. (to John Fenderson, #8)
Something like fisheries research doesn't involve this kind of heavy lifting.
Now, dealing with weather reports, I believe in allocating most of the the costs of a shared service to its most demanding users, on the theory that the least demanding users would be content with something less elaborate and expensive. To take an example, on winter mornings, the local public radio station (West Virginia Public Broadcasting) announces school closings on a county-by-county basis: the following county school systems are open; the following county school systems are operating on a two-hour delay; the following county school systems are closed. And this notice is only given an hour or so before the children would be departing for school. This is a workable system of course. The school system does not think it worthwhile to develop an elaborate plan in which each child's schedule is adjusted in one-minute increments. According to these criteria the vast majority of the expense of the weather satellites has to be attributed to jet airplanes.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/12/noaa-budget-weather-satellites_n_2863861.html
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Re: Re: Re: The Real Weather Business. (to John Fenderson, #8)
You should check out the entire scope of what NOAA does. To dismiss it's non-airplane-related weather forecasting as "fisheries research" is either just insulting or shows a deep lack of understanding.
In any case, even the "fisheries research" requires the same heavy lifting as the weather forecasting. It also uses supercomputers, satellites, etc.
NOAA's expenditures on infrastructure are not because of airplane pilot's need. They are because that's the sort of infrastructure that you need to accomplish NOAA's overall objectives, of which weather forecasting in general, and forecasting for airplanes in particular, are a small portion.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: The Real Weather Business. (to John Fenderson, #8)
I can make a list of small countries, starting with Iceland, which really are economically dependent on their fisheries. In the 1960's and 1970's, Iceland had its "cod war" with Britain, as it pioneered in claiming the two-hundred-mile territorial sea. However, Iceland is not noted for launching satellites.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cod_Wars
In peacetime, as a matter of common prudence, you normally sit out the worst weather. In war, however, you attack behind a storm. Think of the Battle of Midway and the Ardennes Offensive.
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excellent point...
we've thought we should backcharge dish network for all our outages... i'm sure that would work like a charm...
was talking to SWMBO about looking into dish's satellite inertnet services, but she says 'satellite teevee goes out during rain storms -which hardly ever happens in florida- so why do i want my inertnet data to be dropped like that ?'
end of discussion...
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And hey, while I'm bitching about The Weather Channel - holy shit their site GUI is TERRIBLE. Go to their website and search for a ZIP to bring up the location - okay, are you set? Now look at the left bar listing all the forecasts. The primary element, the one at the top of the bar that is both easiest to see and click, is a link to see yesterday's weather.
Do you know when I care about yesterday's weather? TWO DAYS AGO. It serves no purpose to have it on the list at all, let alone at the very top. Amateur hour here guys.
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I am actually part of an amateur weather group and run a personal weather station and our websites are far better than anything you get from TWC. Even the places we upload our data to (wunderground/wxsim/weather4you) are better.
For most folks, they only care about what the weather will be over the next couple days (if they care at all.) For me, I care about weather yesterday and two days ago, specifically the barometric pressure and wind directions, and maybe even high/low temps, but I am certainly not going to go to TWC for it. NOAA/NWS keeps these readings for all major airports (ASOS), and you can get most of the data for your area from MESO/CWOP as well (which come from both ASOS and amateur weather stations.) With this information, you can determine what the future weather will be like, though with the advent of satellite, determining the future weather is far easier with modern technology than watching a barometer.
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They purchased it in 2012, but TWC and Weather Underground are two entirely separate sites regardless to TWC owning them. And unlike TWC, weather underground is actually pretty useful.
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almost NEVER look at the weather channel, etc...
kind of funny to see the -sometimes- significantly divergent forecasts among local weather droids, and various online forecasts...
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WeatherChannel
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Re: WeatherChannel
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The weather channel's pomposity is hilarious
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Re: The weather channel's pomposity is hilarious
I stopped getting TWC when I canceled cable TV early last year. Then, I stopped using their website when they decided, unilaterally, and against the better informed judgement of pretty much every other weather authority everywhere (including NWS/NOAA), to start naming every winter storm.
Each of the past two winters they've announced they were going to do this, on their own site, and the comments and response that follows has been scathing criticism.
I'm sure it's marketing execs driving this as it doesn't help advance weather science. That type of arrogance doesn't deserve to be rewarded.
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Re: Re: The weather channel's pomposity is hilarious
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Re: Re: Re: The weather channel's pomposity is hilarious
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EAS, Tornadoes in California
An aside: My six year old son watches cartoons on Youtube and on 2 occasions I have overheard the emergency alert system go off, warning about potential tornadoes in the local area. Obviously, the cartoon had been recorded off a TV in the heartland of the U.S. which is alternatively known as Tornado Alley. So, whoever posted the Youtube video didn't care that it was interrupted by a severe weather warning. They still posted it to Youtube. Amazing! Now my son, who will never witness a tornado unless he moves away from the area, has experienced an emergency alert for one.
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Reality
As the story points out, The Weather Channel has turned into another Reality TV Network showing some Honey Boo Boo Storm Chaser Dynasty crap.
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I no longer pay for tv. I don't want one due to the over commercialization. What I do have in it's place is the internet and a home weather station. I can see the weather coming by the readings off the home weather station.
Anytime I need to know when severe weather is coming, that's what the internet is for. I get readings that are timely, on target, and reflect what is actually happening in my neighborhood. I don't have to see commercials to do so.
I care not for squabble between DirecTV and TWC. I am not going to pay either of them nor am I going to watch eithers programming.
I can guarantee that.
When it comes time for the sports programmers to do their little attempt at blackmail to raise fees, I won't care about that either for the same reasons. PPV has priced itself out of a market and will soon find out just how badly it has done that, given the quarterly loss of subscribers it is sustaining yearly.
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Weather on DirecTV is moot...
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I dont know about anyone else
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weather channel
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Looking around
ALMOST NOBODY CARES
The Weather Channel is in serious trouble.
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PC - Internet > Weather
Power outage > Android > Internet > Weather
Power outage + Lost Cell Phone > Borrow Neighbors Android > Internet > Weather
Sorry TWC you're outdated, good run though, here's a complimentary Android. "sarcastastic claps" GJ
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Leverage?
I also agree that emergency weather alerts and dishes are mutually exclusive. Your signal being out should be a pretty good alert alone.
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If if works for...
"Hey, if it works for so called "man-made" global warming "arguments", it'll work for us. Just tell the public the world will be destroyed if ______."
With the 15,000+ hours of government indoctrination forcing a large portion of the populace to only think emotionally (rather than rationally/critically), such an argument unfortunately tends to work.
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It's not just the money here, folks...
Now, can we PLEASE get wrestling off of "SyFy" (and change the name back?)
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TWC needs to take a look at this and realize their brand is a disaster area all by itself, even worse than their trainwreck website. They have wrecked something people USED to care about. And maybe it's too late to ever get back to those days where TWC mattered a lot, but if they don't do something to fix their image and right now, they will have so little left, they will be able to run their entire operation out of a used FEMA trailer.
Maybe they need to start packing up on Circle 75 Parkway right now. It's done. It's all over but the shouting. DirecTV has dared to speak the word nobody would dare say, and that word is obsolete.
Dish, now it's your turn. Pull the plug.
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Useless
I have no need for the Weather Channel for my local weather and I very rarely watch them.
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@25
i recently had a look at wrestlers OH MY they look underfed...lol its not going no where in the future.
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Well, I was bored enough to READ the source:
"But in this case, Kenny said, the Weather Channel was only seeking an increase of one penny per customer per month." -- THOSE GREEDY BASTARDS!
While Timmy's pick in this spat: 'DirecTV, he said, wanted to "roll back our rates." (The research firm SNL Kagan estimates that the channel currently costs distributors about 13 cents per customer per month.)" -- Oh. So as usual, Timmy read first paragraph and went writing from imagination.
The world is being dumbed-down in ways most people are already too stupid to grasp.
13:36:04[o-297-4]
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By TWC's logic...
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All Weather Channels in general..
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Thunderous applause
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Guess I'm just super lucky?
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'Nother TV Ditcher
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Useless information
It is about the money - $2.6M/month from DirecTV alone -- all about the $0.12 or $0.13/user per month.
I haven't watched TWC for ~10 years and I don't have to wait until X:X8 to get a forecast. My internet connection and/or a competing app on the smartphone gives me info - now...sans commercials or "reality" fluff
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Weather Hacking
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Oh, no, weathergeddonpocalypse!
For most of the year, the weather is so calm that they have time in their schedule to run reality shows like "Storm Chasers" or "This week in weather history".
Yet when a storm approaches, they get into panic mode and every storm is Snowpocalypse or Wintermageddon or or Super Terrible End of the World We're All Gonna Die Rain Storm.
I can see why people get tired of these ups and downs. If I were a DirectTV customer, I'd vote for a calmer weather channel... or just check my phone where there's no "weather anchor" in a rainy city telling me even more rain is coming.
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The downhill slide
Rokervision has taken over TWC.
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TWC follies
The result is stupidity like "Wake Up With Al" and news reporting by the lowest rated cable news network in the country. New York sucks, Al is a bozo what can anyone say about BSNBC? Fuhgetabouthem.
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