DirecTV’s 20 million users on Tuesday lost access to Atlanta-based Weather Channel in a contentious dispute over how much the satellite carrier is willing to pay to air the network.
The Weather Channel CEO David Kenny said this is the first time in the network’s 32-year history that it has had a significant disruption due to a failure to reach an agreement with a carrier. SNL Kagan estimates that DirecTV pays a modest 13 cents per subscriber per month to the Weather Channel, or about $2.6 million. That is far lower than more popular networks such as USA and ESPN.
Kenny said the network, which is owned by NBC Universal, is asking for an extra penny a month, or about $2.4 million over a year.
“We are not looking for a large fee increase,” he wrote. “We are simply looking for a fair deal that allows our company to continue to invest in the science and technology that enables us to keep people safe, deliver the world’s best weather and tell weather stories to help people be prepared and informed.”
Most negotiations between carriers and networks are hammered out quietly behind the scenes. But occasionally, the battles go public as both sides try to leverage outrage from deprived users to pressure the other player into accepting a deal.
Some skirmishes are often resolved quickly. Charter Cable, for instance, was able to hammer out an agreement with Atlanta-based WSB-TV earlier this month after a brief 14-hour blackout. Others drag on for months, such as the current dispute between Dish Network and the regional Fox Sports Networks, which were taken off Dish in April. Those two sides have yet to come to terms after more than seven months.
DirecTV is trying to position itself as an advocate for the consumer, keeping its costs down so it doesn’t have to raise subscription rates as much.
As leverage, DirecTV last month added a much smaller alternative weather network Weather Nation. Chief Content Officer Dan York, in a statement, noted that “The Weather Channel does not have an exclusive on weather coverage. The weather belongs to everyone.”
He also criticized the Weather Channel for using 40 percent of its schedule to air reality programs such as “Prospectors” and “Highway Thru Hell,” shows that could air on Discovery or History channels. The Weather Channel airs such programs to keep viewers watching longer, now that more people have access to weather information elsewhere.
Brad Adgate, research director for media services company Horizon Media, said the amount of money involved is relatively small for DirecTV. Rather, he said, DirecTV “is sending a message to other cable networks that when it’s time to negotiate retransmission fees, they are not going to get an automatic rate increase. It seems like the Weather Channel is being made a scapegoat.”
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