DirecTV pulled the plug on The Weather Channel early today after the two failed to come to terms on a new distribution agreement.
The Weather Channel, based in Atlanta, had urged DirecTV customers to call their congressional leaders and use social media to pressure the satellite TV service to keep the channel’s programming over the weekend.
On its website, DirecTV criticized the programming on the The Weather Channel, describing it as “reality show clutter.”
“Consumers understand there are now a variety of other ways to get weather coverage, free of reality show clutter, and that The Weather Channel does not have an exclusive on weather coverage – the weather belongs to everyone,” the statement said.
“Most consumers don’t want to watch a weather information channel with a forecast of a 40 percent chance of reality TV. So with that in mind, we are in the process of discussing an agreement to return the network to our line-up at the right value for our customers,” DirecTV said.
Weather Channel Chairman and Chief Executive Officer David Kenny said DirecTV refused to come to a distribution 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,” Kenny said. “We are not looking for a large fee increase. We are simply looking for a fair deal.”
Kenny called the move “reckless” and said it 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.”
DirecTV, based in El Segundo, Calif., said it has launched a new channel, WeatherNation, as an alternative to the Weather Channel “to provide 24/7 hard news weather coverage.”
The distribution agreement with DirecTV, which has more than 20 million subscribers, expired at the end of last year.
Neither company has disclosed the specifics of their financial negotiations. Kenny said his company has offered “the industry’s best rate for our programming.”
According to a Los Angeles Times report, citing people familiar with talks between the companies, the Weather Channel is trying to increase the fees it gets from pay-TV distributors. The report, citing the research firm SNL Kagan, said the Weather Channel charges distributors an average of 13 cents per subscriber per month, compared with at least 60 cents and up to $5 per subscriber that much larger networks, such as USA, TNT and ESPN, get per month.
Meanwhile, AccuWeather, a provider of hourly forecast updates to digital devices, said it is moving up the launch of its new AccuWeather Channel to the third quarter of this year, mainly because of the dispute between DirecTV and The Weather Channel.
The new channel will be called AccuWeather Channel and will provide highly localized and customized forecasts, the company said. The channel will be streamed on AccuWeather.com and other Internet sites.
