Topic: TWC vs. DirecTV

[chief-david]

If the White House cannot take Jimmy Kimmel off the air,
Congress cannot force DTV to keep the Weather Channel

[SlowModem]

The WH wanted Kimmel off the air?

[WeatherHost]

No, but some 'noids did and started one of those petition thingamabobs.

[SlowModem]

I got to thinking about the good old days on TWC and remember a guy named Dale Daukus (sp?).  Does anyone remember him?  I watched his last night, and he had a railroad engineer's hat and train whistle he blew a lot.  It was a fun night.

[chief-david]

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_24891860/white-house-no-we-cant-take-jimmy-kimmel

[HailHunter]

The Weather Channel maybe listening to criticism, at least in the short term. On a Sunday when very little of note is happening across the United States, the Weather Channel has preempted almost all of it's regular reality show programming, and gone back to the "old fashioned" style of wall-to-wall weather reporting.

I noticed it myself this afternoon when checking on the network. They had one of the shows on the guide, but they were on the air broadcasting weather, instead.

Also, while I have not seen it for myself tonight, Kim Cunningham posted on her social pages earlier that they would be on the air 11pm-3am. The last time I checked, late night Sunday was generally filled up with those garbage shows that we complain the most about. I have not seen anything about the prime time hours that would have been the biggest sign of whether or not they are taking the criticisms seriously, but it is a very strange coincidence that they would deviate from the norm on the same weekend that they are taking so much heat online.

I don't believe in coincidence...

[HailHunter]

And DirecTV takes the lead in the dirty war fare tactics by running their own crawl on top of the Weather Channel's which says to tune into Weather Nation instead for any and all weather needs. They are right, but that is kind of below the belt to do it right on their own network.

[gwwilk]

I don't see the crawl, but there is a countdown timer overlaid at the top-center of TWC's broadcast telling us how long until DirecTV's blackout of TWC.  Oddly, I don't see Al this morning.  That's a relief, but probably just reflects time off and not a programming change.

It might be too much to hope for, but perhaps the overlords at NBC/Comcast now realize that turning TWC into a cash cow by greatly reducing their OCM staff and the time actually devoted to weather reporting has horribly maimed what used to be a national resource and now is a national joke, aka 'The Roker Channel'.

Now 17 hrs. 31 min until DirecTV pulls TWC's plug...

[HailHunter]

I don't see the crawl, but there is a countdown timer overlaid at the top-center of TWC's broadcast telling us how long until DirecTV's blackout of TWC.  Oddly, I don't see Al this morning.  That's a relief, but probably just reflects time off and not a programming change.

It might be too much to hope for, but perhaps the overlords at NBC/Comcast now realize that turning TWC into a cash cow by greatly reducing their OCM staff and the time actually devoted to weather reporting has horribly maimed what used to be a national resource and now is a national joke, aka 'The Roker Channel'.

Now 17 hrs. 31 min until DirecTV pulls TWC's plug...

Ah. I didn't see the timer earlier, so they may have made that adjustment for the 6am hour. I wonder if DirecTV will keep "spamming" them even without the crawl.

As childish as all of this is, I am like everyone else. I hope this will help make it clear to TWC and their higher ups that people actually want wall-to-wall weather. The few alternate programs they air should be tied directly into the weather, and it should be limited to times when hazardous weather is not ongoing. They used to do that back in the late 90s with the weekend show Exposures.

It would air at lunch on Saturdays and Sundays, but it was pulled any time severe weather was possible.

[SlowModem]

While thinking about the good old days and googling a few names, I found this on a TWC Wiki page:

Notable alumni

   Nicole Mitchell (now part of air force)

  kevin Robinson(Cincinati,oh)

    Kristina Abernathy
    Natalie Allen (now at CNNI)
    Tetiana Anderson
    Hillary Andrews (now at CNN)
    Will Annen
    Carl Arredondo (now at WWL-TV)
    Dan Atkinson (retired from WSFA)
    Ray Ban (TWC Consultant)
    Fred Barnhill
    Dianne Barone
    Melissa Barrington
    Andre Bernier (now at WJW-TV)
    Mike Bono (now at Capital News 9)
    Jill Brown (Atlanta Realtor)
    Mary Brown (deceased)
    Dale Bryan
    Don Buser
    Declan Cannon (now at NWS - Duluth, MN)
    Kam Carman (now at WJBK-TV)
    John Cessarich (now at WYFF)
    Bob Child (now at News 14 Carolina)
    Tom Chisholm (now at WMTW)
    Carey Coleman
    Dr. Heidi Cullen (now at Climate Central at Princeton University)
    Janine (Albert) D'Adamo (now at WINK-TV)
    Jon Davies
    Gaye Dawson
    Eboni Deon (now at CNNI)
    Sandra Diaz (now at KFOX-TV)
    Dale Dockus
    Kristin Dodd
    John Doyle
    Jorma Duran
    Brian Durst
    Dale Eck (current TWC forecaster)

   

    Brad Edwards (now at WOI-TV)
    Bruce (Kalinowski) Edwards (now at WKYC-TV)
    Chris Edwards (now at WXYZ-TV)
    Bill Elias
    George Elliott
    Paul Emmick (now at WSBT-TV)
    Rebecca (Miller) Erwin (now at KDAF-TV)
    Neal Estano (now at WRGB-TV)
    David Grant (deceased)
    Rick Griffin
    Chuck Herring (now at Landmark Communications)
    John Hope (deceased)
    Liz (Fabian) Jarvis (now at the Macon Telegraph)
    Rich Johnson
    Cheryl Jones (owner of Kansas City-based production company)
    Jeanetta Jones
    Bill Kamal
    Steven Kaye
    Arch Kennedy (now at WZTV)
    Dr. Rick Knabb (now director of the National Hurricane Center)
    Paul Kocin (now at NWS HPC)
    Cheryl Lemke
    Charlie Levy
    Gary Ley
    Sarah Libby (now at KOCO)
    Jennifer Lopez (now at KXAS)
    Mark Mancuso (Now at AccuWeather)
    Bonnie (Cannon) McLaughlin (lives in Duluth, MN)
    Marie Michelini
    Mish Michaels (now at WBZ-TV)
    Jeff Mielcarz (now at WSFL-TV)
    Vince Miller
    Karen Minton (now at WSB-TV)
    Tom Moore (current TWC Coordinating Meteorologist)
    Myke Motley (deceased)
    Lisa Mozer (now an Atlanta-based motivational speaker)

   

    Dave Nemeth (now appears on national informercials)
    Dr. Jon Nese (Penn State Dept. Of Meteorology)
    Darlene Periconi
    Joe Petrovich
    Dan Pope (now at KSL-TV)
    Cindy Preszler (now at KSDK-TV)
    Kevan Ramer (now at KMPH-TV)
    Sharon Resultan
    Bob Richards (deceased)
    Lane Roberts
    Gene Rubin (Southeast Region sales for WSI Corporation)
    Jodi Saeland (left KSTU in May, 2009 after 12 years to be full-time mom)
    Dr. John Scala (now a consultant and at WGAL-TV)
    Dan Schmidt
    Sally Schmies (now at WJW-TV)
    Bill Schubert
    Dave Schwartz (now at WGCL-TV)
    Glenn Schwartz (now at WCAU)
    Norm Sebastian (deceased)
    Marshall Seese
    Dennis Smith
    Terri Smith (current TWC radio broadcaster)
    Lisa Spencer (now at WSMV-TV)
    Marny Stanier (now an Atlanta-area realtor)
    Herb Stevens
    Bob Stokes
    Jerry Tracey (now at WVTM)
    Dao Vu (now at WCCB-TV)
    Dave Watson (deceased)
    Craig Weber
    Jim Wegner
    Charlie Welsh (deceased)
    Keith Westerlage
    Vicki (Griffin) Williams
    Colleen (Hammond) Wine (now a Texas-based motivational speaker)

This is also an interesting page:

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/kristina-abernathy/22/9b6/584

[WeatherHost]

On a quick scan mode, I don't see Alexandra Steele mentioned.

[SlowModem]

On a quick scan mode, I don't see Alexandra Steele mentioned.

You're right.  But she's at CNN in case you didn't know. 

[HailHunter]

Check out the thread I posted earlier as I ran across a similar list. I think we should do our best to keep it updated since it is becoming obvious our loyalties are to the meteorologists and not the company.

[chief-david]

TWC laying it on thick

The Weather Channel ‏@weatherchannel 11 Jan
DIRECTV doesn't know the cost of dropping The Weather Channel, but you do. Take action: http://bit.ly/1jpO8OM  pic.twitter.com/oqaSHJan1I

http://www.keeptheweatherchannel.com/

[WeatherHost]

"DIRECTV doesn't know the cost of dropping The Weather Channel, but you do."

Yes, I do.  Do they?

At least in my book, the cost is 0.  It may even be a positive benefit.

[gwwilk]

I just followed your link and submitted this letter which deviates substantially from TWC's self-serving boilerplate:

I'm writing because I'm aware that DIRECTV may drop The Weather Channel from its lineup. This is just fine with me, a long-time weather enthusiast with a personal weather station and a weather web site, http://gwwilkins.org

The Weather Channel has moved far, far away from its origins as a 24/7 weather resource.  I find their current programming, which includes far to much 'Reality TV' and which relegates good weather to no weather, to be inadequate for their stated purposes.  I for one will not much miss them if DirecTV deletes TWC from their offerings.

TWC's cross-marketing, politicization of weather, inclusion of NBC's 'news' in their programming, and their treatment of their on-camera meteoroligists to be reprehensible.

Please count me among those who DO NOT SUPPORT The Weather Channel.

Sincerely,
Gerald Wilkins

[ocala]

"DIRECTV doesn't know the cost of dropping The Weather Channel, but you do."

Yes, I do.  Do they?

At least in my book, the cost is 0.  It may even be a positive benefit.

You're loving this aren't ya.

[ocala]

Good list Greg, Some of those names brought back some good memories.
There is a girl you forgot though. I think her name was Jill but I can't remember the last name. She was one of the early OCM's. Always one of my favorites.

[chief-david]

From Directv

We remain in talks with The Weather Channel on how to provide its service at the best value for our customers. People want up-to-the-minute local weather information, yet nearly half of The Weather Channel’s programming consists of reality shows. In response, we launched WeatherNation (ch. 361) to provide 24/7 hard news weather coverage. We also offer coverage on over 1,400 local stations and on emergency channels in times of severe weather.
Click here for more information

[Harryca]

Now Accuweather is getting into the act.

AccuWeather Global Headquarters, January 13, 2014 - AccuWeather is pleased to announce it will launch a 24X7 weather channel, to be known as the AccuWeather Channel, in the third quarter of 2014.

AccuWeather had not planned to make the announcement at this time, but decided to accelerate the announcement in light of the controversy that has developed between DIRECTV and The Weather Channel and in order to make the public aware of an additional offering that will be available to them later this year.

Rest of article: http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/accuweather-announces-the-laun/22055195?partner=accuweather

[chief-david]

The accuweather thing is interesting. It just means that many are tired of TWC and are looking for alternatives.
I do find it "amazing" that now that there are alternatives, TWC is going back to what it originally was.


DTV does have a tough side. They dropped Nick, @night, and anything that was owned by CBS a few years ago over cost.
They got a good deal and got them to add on-demand content.  DTV is not afraid of a fight.

[HailHunter]

Zero hour arrived, and now when someone tuned to channel 362 on DirecTV it takes them directly to Weather Nation.

[SlowModem]

Yep, they're gone!  

In response to a previous comment, Jill Brown is the missing Jill



more (and better) images at google images

[ocala]

My mistake Greg. I think her name was Terry. Tall brunette.
It wasn't Jill Brown.

[HailHunter]

Terri Smith by chance?