The Weather Channel goes dark on DirecTV

WattsUpWithThat.com ^ | 13JAN2014 | Anthony Watts

[Biggirl]

Is not NBC/Universal also is owned by Comcast?

[Biggirl]

Would like to have another alternate weather station. Even the local channels are very limited.

[KSCITYBOY]

Global warming finally got those liberal bastards.

[mikey_hates_everything]

It never did me any good during bad weather as I would almost always lose the satellite signal due to the bad weather.

[equaviator]

Poem for Algore-

Global Warming is red
Planet Earth is blue
Please pardon the carbon footprint
Of my New Michigan igloo

[Recompennation]

Watched weather channel continuously while laid up in the hospital. The nurses called me the weatherman. That was then and weather and weather stories was it. I quit the weather channel when they started in on the (news) a year or two ago?
Msnbc nbc explains the ruination of this. I will never watch again. Along about this time FOX NEWS added weather.

[duckman]

The only good viewing on the WC is Amanda on the Prospectors.

[FAA]

Yeah, just checked and it’s WN AM this morning. I never watched TWC however. I always checked the weather on the internet (Accuweather) or the local radio.

To Hell with ‘em.

[Utilizer]

Does not seem too accurate here, sorry to say. No offence. Weather Underground (wunderground.com) works the best for this location, although YMMV. For a remote location such as where I am at currently, it works quite well, although like most all forecasting sites it does seem to change its forecasts often enough that it seems to necessitate daily rechecks.

For daily forecasts, however, it seems to work quite well. Even forecast an overnight rain event recently that I never would have guessed about given the clear skies that evening. Much better than Accu-Weather, who always got it wrong.

[R. Scott]

There was a time when I’d occasionally watch TWC – until they changed their format. They had “Local on the Eights”, local current and next day’s weather with radar. No more. Like you I now us Weather.com.

[Yosemitest]

I haven't tried Weather Underground, butlet's see how Weasther Nation works out.
I can always got to the computer and get what I want.

I learned about Intellicast.com when I was Watch Supervising USAF Control Towers, before I retired.
The fighter pilots and Supervisors of Flying turned me onto it as far back as the mid 80s.
I've been using it ever since, even though it is a side product of "The Weather Channel".

But the latest changes to "The Weather Channel" were really bad.
They had too much computer print data all over their screen, and they kept shrinking the size of their actual radar loop or satellite loop down to smaller TV screens while they stood in front of it, and half of the time covered up the weather on the screen with their fat bodies so we couldn't see what we needed to see.
Then they went to mostly colored flat maps of the U.S. with ancient computer drawings of their forecasted weather.
They should have stayed with the rounded globe styled maps.
Also, too many times, they spoke to the audience like they were in grade school.
I'll miss Jim Cantore, but the rest of them weren't worth my time.

[Yosemitest]

Watching the weather is somehow very relaxing to me, and I've got retired friends from the military all over the world.
So it's nice to know what the weather is, where they are, so I'll have something to say, when we e-mail, or call.
Some of "The Weather Channel's Shows" I enjoyed like Prospectors, and "It Could Happen Tomorrow",
but they really belonged on other channels and not "The Weather Channel" .

[Yosemitest]

Well said!

[EternalHope13]

A relative of mine works for DirecTV. Supposedly this is a big deal, but he has got all of ONE person whining about their removal and “she sounded like a prissy feminist doofus”.

My guess? 90% of the population will not care once they get over the name change. TWC is throwing a tantrum but DTV is doing what they do very well on negotiations. Their strategy amounts to the following: to plant their feet and tell recalcitrant content providers “there are 100 other places we can get the cr@p you’ve got and we’re not paying a dime more for your non-unique, non-exclusive ‘content’ in this economy!”

[EternalHope13]

Exactly. DTV is pulling a brilliant switch by putting a channel with the same core content (weather) with a very similar name. I would be shocked if even half of the population even noticed the difference unless it were pointed out to them.

Time Warner learned the hard way that their content is not irreplaceable - and, I’m told, were privately humiliated by DTV executives when they had to come crawling back to the bargaining table from a loser’s position. And if there is content more replaceable than TWC’s, I don’t know what it could be.

[Be Free]

Hit the nail on the head there! This is another chapter in the “Dinosaur Media” saga. TWC is still high on fumes from their rock-star status of the 1980’s, arrogantly assuming that their content is so valuable and unique that it’s a must-have for any satellite or cable subscriber. Like magazine and newspaper publishers, they likely never considered how many alternatives there are to a weather-only TV channel in 2014.

I get virtually all my weather from internet-based services (usually wunderground.com). For major national weather events, I would occasionally tune in to TWC, but that’s been rare. For major local weather, the local stations have better coverage, as they’re right here.

Bye-bye TWC.

[Jack Hydrazine]

Wow! That is great to hear! Thanks for giving us the scuttlebut on what is going on.

[Jack Hydrazine]

We have Whorealdo for that!

[Jack Hydrazine]

Stick your head out the window?

[IbJensen]

Don’t forget BET. We watch that so often!