ATLANTA -- January 14, 2014 -- 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.”
I highlight this part because I believe David Kelley may need to do some research into his own company. If he did, he wouldn't have made the mistake of being grossly hypocritical.
Weathernation has only been around about a couple of years now. I'm neutral to WeatherNation, I don't like it or dislike it. I believe it still needs a lot of work. In fact I wasn't even aware the live segments were on a loop, I've never watched the channel more than 5 mins. at a time before. However, with all of that being said, I think David Kelley has forgotten or chosen to ignore the fact that TWC had to start from the bottom up to get to where it is now.
In comparison to where WeatherNation is now...
In the first couple of years, Did TWC have Jim Cantore? NO.
Did TWC have Dr. Greg Forbes, Tom Niziol, Greg Postel? NO, They had John Hope, but outside of him back then they had nobody as an expert.
Did TWC have field coverage? NOPE. Not until Hugo which was...oh 7 years AFTER their existence as a weather network. I'm not sayin' anything, I'm just sayin'.
I know well established networks such as TWC will take jabs at their competitors, calling them "cheap startups" but it's clearly an ironic one to take considering TWC themselves ALMOST failed as a 24/7 cable weather network in it's early years because critics took them to be a joke.
Long story short, TWC better tread the water carefully and not underestimate what WeatherNation, Network Weather or Accuweather is capable of doing this year and years to follow. It's an open free market now so there will be winners and losers. For TWC's own sake, I hope they don't play to be on the loser's side.
