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TWC dying, Accuweather gearing up, Weathernation in the hot seat

I have been watching WeatherNation on my visits to the local Y exercise room (the exercise machines actually have the TV screens and channel changers attached to them). I like Weather Nation better than TWC; it is pretty easy to find out what the forecast is for your area within a reasonable amount of time.

The one complaint I have is that WeatherNation's closed captioning is awful. (I turn on the closed captioning rather than bring earphones to hear the TV). They must be using some kind of automatic translator that can't accurately "hear" half of what the on-air people are saying and it comes out hilariously garbled at times. I hope they get a better one soon....
 
Timothy Finn said:
Forgive me for being quite so bold, but I know how I would run a "weather channel".

1. For starters, weather. Good weather. Good forecasting. Available every so many minutes. Keyed off the location of your receiver.

2. Severe weather coverage - I would have severe weather coverage take precedence over any programming (weather related) that I may be showing at the time. That means I would be explaining what was happening, what conditions are causing it, and where it is heading, and what it looks to do as it heads that way. No scarecasting, just good solid facts.

3. Weather programming - for the slower times, I would air shows that would teach, and educate about various facets of weather phenomena, plus some forecasting shows, and basically as much educational stuff as I could.

Want a garden show? Watch HGTV. Want a home repair show? Find Bob Vila. Want a game show? Fine, tune to GSN.

This is weather.

Tim
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Fully agree that a feed of H.S. and early-college level science, physics, and meteorologic material would be awesome.

Television is such a potentially fantastic medium, so sadly wasted. :(
Unfortunately, I don't think 99% of our society would know what to do with a TeeVee feed that actually required the viewer to participate and think a little.
 
I've spoken to a couple of corporate representatives from WN and my feeling is they are here for real, or at least they are planning for "long term" including the aformentioned local forecasts. I'm also encouraged that they seem to understand the difference between "reality television themed ratings" coverage during the tornado season and focused information designed to save lives - not programming for "Weathertainment."

The last thing I want to see on a high risk day are reality television style antics that do little to inform or save the lives of those frantically seeking life-saving information.

W.
 
I wonder if WN will be buying footage, and if it will prompt TWC not to be so cheap with buying footage. Could be a little better for all those "pro" storm chasers making hundreds of dollars each year out in the Plains ;)
 
Rob Hurkes said:
I wonder if WN will be buying footage, and if it will prompt TWC not to be so cheap with buying footage. Could be a little better for all those "pro" storm chasers making hundreds of dollars each year out in the Plains ;)
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My understanding is they are going to rely heavily on social media. Of course this will just devalue image and footage prices even more and tempt amateurs to get the money shot at any cost. Right now, they are not being paid a fee by DirecTV and are surviving off advertising. I can see a business model using social media and live feeds from local stations during severe weather outbreaks that might work. It will be interesting to see if TWC starts laying off people in the near future. Let's hope not.

Interesting note: The President of DirecTV recently wrote a letter to subscribers noting the following:


  • Our customers tell us The Weather Channel is their fourth choice when looking to access weather information. They first turn to mobile devices and computers for instant weather information and then to local news sources that have a better grasp on local conditions.
  • Because of these first two points, The Weather Channel has lost about a third of its viewers over the last two years.

W.
 
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TWC has been going downhill steadily for over 10 years now. I'm actually surprised they haven't reached a crisis point sooner. The average person tunes in only because they want a quick look at the forecast. Instead, they get treated to reality style documentaries. When that happens, I would guess 9 out of 10 mutter something under their breath, change the channel and instead get the weather info they need from their local news or the internet.

The management at TWC somehow forgot who their audience actually is sometime around the turn of the century. They sought an audience that not only tunes in, but watches for long durations of time. That isn't going to happen by exclusively doing live weather, because most days are rather boring. Thus began programs like Storm Stories that interrupted live programming and were shown even while tornado outbreaks were in progress, frustrating people to no end. As if that weren't bad enough, as time went on, they added even more programming of this type. Later still, they branched out into even more programming, much of which only vaguely has anything to do with the weather! It became a circus and many of their core viewers simply tired of all the crap and moved on.

What TWC needs to realize is that channels like Discovery, History, etc are simply better at doing the kind of programming they've been attempting and drop those. And they also need to realize that they are never going to attract huge numbers of viewers on typical days with weather based programming. If TWC wasn't satisfied with where they were in the 1990s, then they will never be satisfied, because that was TWC at its best. That is as good as they ever were or will be. If that doesn't satisfy their goal of ratings, they need to drop weather and instead become The "Whatever" Channel. But if they wish to remain weather based, they need to once again become live weather, 24/7, so that viewers can tune in any time of day and within 5 minutes or so get what they are really seeking. And they'll just have to accept that most people aren't going to spend a significant portion of their day watching their channel. Outside of big severe weather days, hurricanes or significant winter storms, the interest just isn't going to be there.

They need to go back to 1990s type programming. Get rid of all the prerecorded crap. And focus on delivering the best live coverage of major weather events as possible. Large numbers of people will tune in for that. To TWC's credit, they have done a bit better job of live severe weather coverage in recent years. No longer will the prerecorded crap take priority over a tornado outbreak. But they need to expand on that. The technology we have today offers enormous potential for live weather coverage. Make the most of it! And just accept that on the boring weather days, fewer viewers are going to watch. If they can do this, TWC will at least survive and do well in this rather niche market. Otherwise, I think they'll completely fail. And sooner rather than later. TWC seemed to do just fine from the 1980s through the 1990s by sticking to actual weather. But somewhere along the way, someone in management got greedy and wanted ratings far in excess of what a live weather based channel is capable of attaining. Thus, here we are!
 
rdale said:
They are making boatloads of money... I'd hardly call that "going downhill" :)
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Have you read any of the other posts in this thread? George nailed it. I could cite other examples of companies losing the vision of their mission, but I won't go OT. There is a maxim in the corporate world that "if you aren't progressing you are falling behind". TWC "progressed" themselves right to where they are today, which includes getting the boot from DirecTV and now being citizens' 4th choice for obtaining weather info.
 
rdale said:
They are making boatloads of money... I'd hardly call that "going downhill" :)
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And as long as that boat continues to float, They don't care what we think...

That's the beauty of being owned by one of the six media conglomerates controlling 90% of this
nation's media. And with yesterday's announcement, it will be five here soon...
 
Rob Hurkes said:
I wonder if WN will be buying footage, and if it will prompt TWC not to be so cheap with buying footage. Could be a little better for all those "pro" storm chasers making hundreds of dollars each year out in the Plains ;)
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Every wonder why there are so many reality shows on all the networks? They are cheap to make. No high priced producers, no high priced actors, no big production crews, ect ect and if a show is successful like Duck Dynasty (for what ever reason) Great! if the show flops like 90% do, oh well., not a big investment.

Networks are content showing someones crappy cellphone footage or "snapshots" for next to nothing, if anything at all in exchange for that person getting their 15 minutes of fame. Though I must say I have seen some pretty nice photos on WN. But still I'm sure way underpaid if any pay at all.
 
Bob Schafer said:
Have you read any of the other posts in this thread? George nailed it. I could cite other examples of companies losing the vision of their mission, but I won't go OT. There is a maxim in the corporate world that "if you aren't progressing you are falling behind". TWC "progressed" themselves right to where they are today, which includes getting the boot from DirecTV and now being citizens' 4th choice for obtaining weather info.
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Maybe their TV network is 4th choice. But radio, web, social media, etc still lists them near the top. In 20 years, TV sakes will not be the driving force.
 
If WN is rising the ranks, they'll have to start paying me for my video. They were pretty dilligent in asking me to use my clips on their website, and I didnt mind since it got me more YT views and (at the time) I dont mind helping the underdog out. Some competition in the markets should make things fun again and hopefully provide value for video stringers.
 
Have you noticed the latest round of TWC's attack ads on DirectTV? It's worse than political campaign ads. Saying the viewers aren't getting their money's worth, encouraging viewers to not subscribe to DirectTV, parodying their ads with very poor taste, and saying that TWC was pulled "without warning." If they had no warning, then why did TWC run the first round of ads asking viewers for their help to prevent DirectTV from pulling them? Now, TWC is acting like a spoiled bratty child. It's NBC trying to throw it's weight around and intimidate one of its former distributors.
 
Nothing surprises me from TWC now. They sent an incompetent crew into the field to chase tornadoes that nearly got killed, then went on-air during future severe weather coverage events telling chasers how to chase and to be careful, without so much as a whisper of an apology to the viewing public for promoting the endangerment of unqualified individuals for purposes of revenue. Imagine if Bettes had been killed? Would that have changed the outcome? (One crew member was seriously injured, but he was just "stand in" material, not a face, so apparently he doesn't mean sh*t).

It's amazing to me (why I don't know) how the weather channel has never been held accountable for the Bettes debacle. It's like it never happened, and in the same breath, they continue to preach to the rest of us how to chase. F*ck TWC.
 
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