Wide World of Women

Saw a countdown of time until the weather channel is off directv.

1 day left.

Weather Nation must have struck a deal.

Can't say as I'll miss the TWC that much , it's been pretty well ruined since NBC and Comcast bought it .

True, Comcast is run by a bunch of monkeys. I don't blame DirecTv, TWC doesn't really show weather anymore.

No Heather Tesch, Nicole Mitchell, and Samantha Mohr just to name a few.

The Weather Channel died along time ago in my opinion.

DirecTV won't lose anything be letting TWC go.

I saw this on the Fox News ticker.

While I will miss seeing Kelly Cass, I won't miss it as a whole. I will not miss their reality shows and I certainly won't miss their global warming hype.

I agree. The new changes were the last straw for me. Weather sensationalism, naming winter storms and reality shows are the brain child of NBC. If TWC does come through this, it'll make TWC go back to its original job of forecasting weather. All this other BS has to go. Remember when they were showing movies like Twister . . .WTF?! The stupid set changes and pathetic music now. They want satisfied viewers . . . take a page out of Fox's playbook. "high pressure in high heels" or "miniskirts and maps" I know it sounds sexist, but that's what sells. It's a business not a vital service as they put it. That stable of warm front weather babes is not cheap at TWC. There needs to be a serious look at TWC's mission statement and management needs to change. Hopefully News Corp will take over and show them how to get ratings.

They've gone to 24 hour live weather since Saturday. Bet they will go back to the previous format of 40% reality shows once the contract renewal dispute is settled.

Time Warner and CBS last for weeks. Seems like both sides here have dug in for a long fight. Directv, without much fanfare stuck weathernation next to the TWC. That should of been the 1st sign to NBCU that directv had no plans to cave. TWC spouts off that vital service BS hoping to win over a few hearts and minds. That might have worked a few years ago, but not now. They have become nothing more than TruTV with morning weather updates.

Directv is hoping that most people will go thru the guide to find the weather, and just think to themselves there's the weather right next to FNC where it has been for years. If that happens NBCU is in trouble.

I find it interesting that Directv is listing a high number of customers complaining about TWC as one of the reasons for playing hard ball over transmission fees. TWC needs to face the fact that they screwed up a channel that should practically program itself.

From a TWC publicist:

"People tell us all the time that The Weather Channel saved their lives. Has anyone said that about DirecTV? #stormDIRECTV"

Now let me get this straight. TWC thinks that it is saving lives by being carried on Directv, but they would like more $ per household to continue doing so? I hope that directv tells NBCU thanks, but no thanks. Not that Directv would pass the savings on to my bill.

I guess if nobody buys the vital public service angle NBCU will start with the scare tatics about pulling more networks when contracts expire. Make people think they are about to lose the USA network if they don't pay "a little more" for TWC.

Now directv is running a crawl over TWC's crawl.

I just thought the graphics were too much clutter before. This is ridiculous.

Once they reach a deal TWC will celebrate by airing a 24hour prospectors marathon.

War is hell

TWC is occasionally running a ribbon crawl nearly halfway up the screen with a phone number to call and a statement about the change, plus info in the upper right corner and even a countdown clock at the top of the screen.

Directv ran a ribbon crawl right about that one. Of course it blamed TWC and urged viewers to watch weathernation for 24/7 weather coverage.

hope someone can still bring caps to the board, sure would hate to see, Jen, Maria, Kim, and Kelly disappear from the board

Whole thing is a joke. DTV can drop TWC but still charge the same monthly fee to subscribers thus make a profit.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/bus ... l/4470233/

DirecTV dropped The Weather Channel from its lineup Tuesday after the two sides failed to agree on a new contract, the latest in a series of battles between TV distributors and content owners about programming costs.

About 20 million DirecTV customers - or 18% of The Weather Channel's total viewership - were affected, as the companies blamed each other for the impasse but continue to negotiate.

Pay-TV service providers, including cable and satellite companies, pay cable networks affiliate fees to include their channels, and the fees are dictated by contracts that run for several years. With programming costs rising, cable networks have pressed pay-TV companies for fee increases, with mixed results.

The Weather Channel, which is owned by the Weather Company, receives about 13 cents per subscriber per month, below the median among the fees collected by cable networks, according to research firm SNL Kagan. ESPN, the Disney-owned sports channel with live sports events that garner high ratings, is the clear leader in carriage fees, generating about $5.50 per subscriber.

In the run-up to the expiration of its contract with DirecTV Monday, the Weather Company — owned by NBC Universal and private-equity firms Blackstone Group and Bain Capital — sought to portray its weather coverage as playing a critical public safety role as it demanded an increase in fees. The Weather Channel is available in "over 100 million homes," according to spokeswoman Shirley Powell.

"I am shocked they have put corporate profits ahead of keeping a trusted channel," said David Kenny, CEO of The Weather Company, adding that DirecTV is compromising "safety" in its decision to drop the channel. "We are not looking for a large fee increase. I am hopeful DirecTV will come to their senses soon."

DirecTV urged customers to turn to its own weather channel, WeatherNation, which it launched in response to a brief dispute over fees with The Weather Channel in 2010. The satellite TV firm touted WeatherNation as a source of "around-the-clock, 100 percent" weather news and information, a not-so-subtle poke at The Weather Channel's controversial decision several years ago to produce and air non-weather programs, including movies and reality shows.

"Consumers understand there are now a variety of other ways to get weather coverage, free of reality show clutter," DirecTV said in a statement. "We are in the process of discussing an agreement to return the network to our lineup."

The Weather Channel called WeatherNation "a cheap start-up that does weather forecasting on a three-hour taped loop, has no field coverage, no weather experts."

Competition for weather broadcasting will get another entrant this year. AccuWeather, which provides weather forecasting data to media companies, said Tuesday it will launch its own channel in the third quarter of 2014.

The planned debut of the AccuWeather Channel had been under wraps, but the State College, Pa.-based company said it decided to accelerate the announcement in light of the DirecTV-Weather Channel dispute.

I'm getting sick and tired of the The Weather Channel acting like they're something superior in their field. First it was their ridiculous naming of winter storms as if they were equals with the National Weather Service, then this horsesh*t about not carrying them equating to not caring about safety. There are local channels that cover important weather events, you idiots! Yes, you preempt all your reality shows when there is a big --and it's gotten be really big-- weather event, but most of the time I'd do better with a local network station for local and regional weather information. I hope DirecTV sticks to their guns and refuses to pay them one more penny.

I"m sick and tired of the greed between the channels and Directv, every year there's dispute about fee's and honestly i don't know who's more to blame, the channels or Directv or both, in the end its the consumers who get screwed!
And i don't care what some "experts" say the only way to go is a la carte. Currently there is a
bill Sen. McCain is sponsoring in the Senate..and of course the cable and sat. companies will fight it tooth and nail.

The Weather Channel needs to decide if the reality TV is that important
but Direct TV does have a point and i think it has very little to do with fees and a lot to do with content