Is TWC dying?

[TrevortonG16]

With Verizon FiOS dropping TWC from its lineup, I have to ask: are we entering the final years of TWC? I hope not.

[Weatherman99]

With Verizon FiOS dropping TWC from its lineup, I have to ask: are we entering the final years of TWC? I hope not.

It does seem as if the channel is losing its luster. But the final years? I wouldn't think that The Weather Channel would suddenly end. The channel did get around 97 million viewers earlier this year during the winter storms. I don't know how much longform TWC shows these days, but it does seem as if they're losing some viewers. 

[WeatherWitness]

According to zap2it, The Weather Channel is the cable network which is in the most homes in the United States, as of February 2015 (see link below).  I don't think it's going anywhere anytime soon.

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2015/02/22/list-of-how-many-homes-each-cable-network-is-in-as-of-february-2015/366230/

[alex979]

Also, remember TWC is much more than the TV network. Their website and mobile apps are big money-makers.

[Lightning]

Even though I don't watch it much anymore, I hope it continues on the air for many years to come. I'd watch it more if they'd simply give what they're supposed to give - information about weather, not tv shows that they even apologize for if they preempt the long form programming for bad weather.

[Adrian]

http://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/comcasts-cuts-value-of-investment-in-weather-channel/268287

"Comcast has taken a $252 million impairment charge on its investment in the Weather Channel. The Wall Street Journal reports Comcast made a quarterly regulatory filing Thursday, valuing its stake in the Weather Channel at $86 million–down from $336 million at the end of 2014.

Moody’s downgraded the company’s debt in April, with Weather Channel facing growing questions about its viability as an independent cable channel. Over the last four years, the channel has lost more than 11 percent of its subscriber base, and was dropped in March from Verizon’s FiOS service."

[twcclassics]

The Wall Street Journal reports Comcast made a quarterly regulatory filing Thursday, valuing its stake in the Weather Channel at $86 million–down from $336 million at the end of 2014.

...

Over the last four years, the channel has lost more than 11 percent of its subscriber base, and was dropped in March from Verizon’s FiOS service."

Holy cow! That's quite a drop!

[luesjo12]

I hope TWC wakes up from the coma it's been in. There's one major thing TWC needs to do to repair what it has done to itself, and that's Change.

[Eric]

I hope TWC wakes up from the coma it's been in. There's one major thing TWC needs to do to repair what it has done to itself, and that's Change.

Sadly, you have to ask yourself when that ever happens.  Once a course is set, no matter how badly things go, that's usually the course that continues to be followed.  They may intensify changes in that same direction in an attempt to "improve" rather than undo in the hopes that that's what's necessary to fix things, but, obviously, if a given course hasn't worked out up until now, it's not going to work no matter how much more money they throw at it.

It would take nothing short of a total catastrophe for the CEO and others responsible for the bad decisions in the first place to admit failure and that their ideas just weren't any good, and it would take an even bigger catastrophe for the company as a whole to admit defeat and try to turn things around again instead of going down the same dark path.  Usually, though, by the time the catastrophe gets to that point it's already too late and a slow decline turns into a more or less rapid implosion.

[CartoonJazzLover]

(slight bump)

I hope not. If NBC finally stop owning TWC, then most of the problems caused by them are gonna go away. I hope by the time their 35th anniversary, it will become better again (and I might be regular viewer again if that does happens).

[Eric]

A lot of people here seem to think that The Weather Channel is going to go back to its pre-NBC days just like that if it does get sold, and I can't fathom that happening.  Not even by a long shot.

[TWCJim]

Couldn't agree more with Eric. In the event of The Weather Channel being sold to someone else, chances are that the programming direction is not going to change one bit.  I don't believe the fact that NBC 'destroyed' The Weather Channel with constant "weather" related shows; e.g. shows like 'Fat Guys In The Woods' or 'Prospectors'. Whomever is in charge of TWC's programming is probably to blame for the channel's downfall, but continuous arguing and backlash from viewers isn't going to get TWC to reverse their programming decisions. What's done is done.

[Metarvo]

I hear a lot about cable in general dying.  People often cite costs and the internet as reasons, but no one considers that perhaps people don't want the kind of programming that's on cable now.  Case in point: TWC's change in direction. 

Other channels have deteriorated in a similar fashion, but TWC's metamorphosis seems more egregious to me because it's primary purpose was to provide a service — not simply entertainment per-se.  It has gotten away from providing the service in question, which is was weather forecasting and reporting 24/7 on cable.  I don't really think everything will magically go back to the way it was were TWC to be sold, but anything's bound to beat what we have now.  Even late-00's TWC sounds pretty nice now.