'The weather belongs to everyone': DirecTV drops The Weather Channel for good reason
“Most consumers don’t want to watch a weather information channel with a forecast of a 40% chance of reality TV,” DirecTV Chief Content Officer Dan York said.
After an unresolved dispute over carriage fees, DirecTV dropped The Weather Channel from its channel line-up on Monday, replacing it with upstart Weather Nation. Needless to say, TWC is pissed that its thirty-two-year reign as the king of nationally broadcast forecasting has been brazenly challenged. It was, I think, long overdue.
I never watch The Weather Channel anymore. Why? Because the one thing I want to see, the local weather, is never on! It has been replaced by “reality” programs, gratuitous extreme weather documentaries, and replays of Jim Cantore flipping out every time he experiences thundersnow. The only interactions I have with TWC anymore are visits to its website and the website for Weather Underground, a TWC affiliate. Both provide local weather — as does KCRG’s website and the CRG.
Back in the day, TWC’s “Local on the 8s” local conditions and forecast feature was a bonanza of much appreciated information. As a snow plow driver, my dad’s life revolved around the weather forecast in the winter and he relied heavily on TWC’s local weather updates. Whenever someone else was watching TV and an “eight” was approaching, he would ask, “Turn it to The Weather Channel so I can see the forecast.”
I often watched the informative and matter-of-fact national forecast in the mornings before school when I was younger, but “Local on the 8s” was no doubt TWC’s best feature. Unfortunately, the local updates seem to have been discontinued, or at least given much less priority. A few years ago, whenever I tuned to TWC for the sole purpose of seeing the forecast, eights came and went with no mention of the local weather. (Perhaps TWC still features local weather updates and forecasts. If so, I have no clue when they air.) I have had no use for TWC ever since. Even my dad no longer watches it. (He retired two years ago so that may have something to do with it.)
It has been a long time since I watched TWC, but I can confidently say it is a gaudy and conceited shell of what it once was. (In many ways its content degradation reminds me of MTV’s.) I can understand why DirecTV dumped it. TWC was a useless waste of space on my channel guide. It has had a monopoly on national weather forecasting for decades and it is time someone stood up to it.
(The Weather Channel is obviously not taking its breakup with DirecTV well. The Guardian outlines the “storm” here. To be honest, I do not think TWC is doing itself any favors, especially since its claims are childish and outrageously alarmist.)
However, I am not going to write-off TWC just yet. I hope its budding competition will challenge it to reassess the direction it took recently. It needs to prioritize information and deemphasize needless reality programming. It is no longer a worthwhile product and DirecTV was justified in its decision to find something else for the time being.
