Jim Egstad
Bad post, first timer and last timer too. Enjoy the weather, folks.
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TWC dying, Accuweather gearing up, Weathernation in the hot seat
- Thread starter Rob H
- Start date
Elaine Spencer
EF3
Looks like TWC is back on DirecTV... but not without some significant concessions:
http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/wea...ogram-lineup-to-return-to-directv-1201154262/
"To get back on the 20 million-subscriber service, Weather Channel has agreed to reduce reality programming by half on weekdays; return instant local weather; and allow DirecTV customers to watch the Weather Channel’s video programming on multiple devices inside and outside the home, so long as they can prove they are subscribers....
"The conciliatory statement marks an about-face of sorts for Weather Channel, which in early March seemed ready to invest more heavily in documentary-style series and reality programming, despite DirecTV’s objections and willingness to create a rival weather service during Weather Channel’s absence from its air.
"The agreement will not affect Weather Channel’s primetime lineup or future programming development, according to a spokeswoman forWeather Channel. The network has already replaced some of its longform programming on between the hours of 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. - think repeats of “Coast Guard Alaska,†“Prospectors†and the like - with live weather coverage."
http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/wea...ogram-lineup-to-return-to-directv-1201154262/
"To get back on the 20 million-subscriber service, Weather Channel has agreed to reduce reality programming by half on weekdays; return instant local weather; and allow DirecTV customers to watch the Weather Channel’s video programming on multiple devices inside and outside the home, so long as they can prove they are subscribers....
"The conciliatory statement marks an about-face of sorts for Weather Channel, which in early March seemed ready to invest more heavily in documentary-style series and reality programming, despite DirecTV’s objections and willingness to create a rival weather service during Weather Channel’s absence from its air.
"The agreement will not affect Weather Channel’s primetime lineup or future programming development, according to a spokeswoman forWeather Channel. The network has already replaced some of its longform programming on between the hours of 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. - think repeats of “Coast Guard Alaska,†“Prospectors†and the like - with live weather coverage."
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Rob H
EF5
Now I'm curious what this post was all about
The guy is paid to look good on TV and promote TWC, and got tons of flack before his El Reno incident, so this isn't something new. His presentation didn't teach any lessons that I came away with, and others (like Chuck Doswell) expressed a desire to ask him some real questions that he ignored. Maybe he can't talk about the details for liability reasons or something? Maybe it's just his hubris that prevented it, who knows.
Cut the guy a break? He literally saw a tornado a mile or two away and drove directly into the path of it trying to escape and almost killed everyone in the car with him. After railing on chasers for years for being reckless, it comes across as extremely hypocritical.
Jeff Snyder
EF5
For what it's worth, there were quite a few people who ended up in the path of the tornado that were hit [Tim / Carl / Paul, Mikey Gribble, Brandon Sullivan and Brett Wright (not sure if they were actually hit directly), Chip Legett and company] or crossed the path and were within a minute or two of being hit (Dan Robinson, Tim Marshall, etc.). To be blunt, Tim/Carl/Paul "saw the tornado a mile or two away and drove directly into the path of it trying to escape" but had a much less fortunate outcome; similar stories could be told by those who were much more fortunate. I like much of what Chuck had to say, but I don't see why Mike B. gets singled out other than because he's a higher-profile media personality. The fact is that a lot of chasers, regardless of experience level, had very close calls (or were directly impacted) by the 5/31/13 El Reno tornado.
Back on topic... I ditched satellite TV several years ago and don't have access to cable in my neighborhood, so I haven't watched TWC in a long time. My impression is that their trajectory is following that of Discovery Channel, History Channel, and TLC in a transition away from what the name of the channel implies and towards mindless, lowest-common-denominator entertainment programming. Good riddance, I say.
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Andy Wehrle
EF5
+1. Around the turn of the millennium, my teenaged geek self could barely come up with enough VCRs (not to mention satellite tuners) to record all the programs I wanted to see on those four channels. Now it is very rare that I consider a program worth watching, and even those disappoint more often than not.
John Olexa
EF5
+2 Same here! I still have a tape called "Wonders of Weather" from TLC.. when it really was "The Learning Channel" As far as TWC, Never could stand WUWA. Today I gave AMHQ with Sam Champion a try... only made it about 30 minutes. While I understand trying to liven up the channel with a little comedy & humor, the first rule of comedy is, be funny! Sadly they are not. Also started to repeat segments. I will be glad to see someof their shows like Raging Nature & Storm Riders pretty much any dealing with weather.
Matt Tottle
EF4
This is seriously funny.. Hopefully it marks a paradigm in the television industry. The networks are drifting away from their topics, and at the same time increasing their carriage fees every year, and we get stuck paying for this garbage.. It's nice to see DirecTV grow a pair and take a stand, and bully a big money owned network into (at least partially) returning to its core content. Hopefully they'll do it again when the Discovery Networks contract comes back up for renewal next year, and beat them into returning educational programming to TLC (although if they were to air a 2 hour special of Honey Boo Boo and her retard family getting beaten to death with medieval weapons, I'd watch it) , and canceling (and burning all archive of) all that fake scripted "reality" crap like "amish mafia", "moonshiners", "weed country", "naked & afraid", etc.. A&E networks is another one in need of a beatdown.. They need to dump all the non-history related garbage off the "History Channel". Oh and come to think of it, I haven't seen anything but commercial-laden box-office hits on IFC lately..
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Ben Faber
EF0
As a DirecTV customer was happy to see TWC back on the air. I don't necessarily agree with TWC's approach or coverage but it's at least another source of weather and do like when they cover severe events live. I agree with the above it was nice to see DTV stick to their guns and win the battle, so to speak.
So I'm all geeked to watch some TWC after a 3 month absence last night but talk about disappointment... nothing but "reality" programming from 5pm-1am my time. Absolutely no time in between where they're showing live weather. I don't know when the 50% cut in reality programming kicks in but it'd better be soon. I thought they at least used to show *some* live weather in prime time prior to DTV kicking them off the air but that doesn't seem to be case anymore.
So I'm all geeked to watch some TWC after a 3 month absence last night but talk about disappointment... nothing but "reality" programming from 5pm-1am my time. Absolutely no time in between where they're showing live weather. I don't know when the 50% cut in reality programming kicks in but it'd better be soon. I thought they at least used to show *some* live weather in prime time prior to DTV kicking them off the air but that doesn't seem to be case anymore.
Rob H
EF5
Bettes is a big part of TWC, so I don't think it's necessarily off-topic. He gets singled out for two reasons: because he made a very questionable decision that is arguably different than ones made by other chasers, and because of his past comments in front of an audience of millions on how reckless chasers are.
He raced a tornado to his south and drove into it - the other people on your list were trying to escape and just barely made it out of the way. Skip's video analyzing his position and decisions are 100x more enlightening than anything he's said about his experience, which is disappointing. Hounding him isn't helpful, but I see a lot of white-knighting in chasing which doesn't help either. He made a serious mistake that almost killed people. No one should feel like they can't criticize his decisions that day, because this hobby presents scenarios that literally break down into life or death decisions. We should all have learned something from Bettes, TWISTEX, everyone there that day that had problems.
I think you can respectfully say that he made a serious mistake that day that seems ironic/hypocritical based on previous on-air comments. Just because he had the El Reno experience doesn't mean that you can't dislike other, unrelated things that he brings to TWC. Bettes hasn't exactly been popular here, and that's been going on since way before El Reno.
Matt Tottle
EF4
Except they don't cover them live anymore. Hell, they don't even interrupt their crap programming to deliver tornado warnings during outbreaks.
I'd be inclined to let him (Mike Bettes) off the hook because I don't believe he intentionally tried to put anyone in harms way that day. He's also human like the rest of us so mistakes can and will happen. There were definitely lessons to learn from the post chase analysis, but I'd be reluctant to throw him or anyone under the bus for decisions they made that day. We really have no way of knowing what they were thinking or doing in the final minutes. I would venture a guess that he took a pretty big chink in his armor and will have learned many valuable lessons from El Reno. I think what he says and does now and in the future is what matters most as we all learn from our mistakes one way or the other.
Greg Campbell
EF5
Having watched Mike's ChaserCon14 presentation, I wholeheartedly agree. Bettes spent 30 minutes talking about.... himself. There was no discussion of the setup, chase strategy, or basic safety. Tim (Sharknado!) M. talked weather and chase routes, and offered his experience as a learning example, and I think it's safe to say that the Twistex guys, had they made it, would offer similar helpful information. Bettes said nothing of the sort and even seemed perfectly willing to jump in and do it all again, with zero apparent self-critique or reflection. In my book, that makes him nothing more than a media tool, in every sense of the word. Looking at the bigger picture, he's a perfect representative for TWC in that ratings are ALL that matter. His job is to make Joe Sixpack stop channel surfing for 5 minutes, just long enough for the ratings to go up a click or two. Conveying real information about chasing and weather is not on his agenda.
FWIW....
Elaine Spencer
EF3
So I'm all geeked to watch some TWC after a 3 month absence last night but talk about disappointment... nothing but "reality" programming from 5pm-1am my time. Absolutely no time in between where they're showing live weather. I don't know when the 50% cut in reality programming kicks in
From reading the Variety article I gather that most of the "50% cut in reality programming" consists of not replaying the reality shows ad nauseam on weekday mornings and afternoons, i.e. outside of prime time. The prime time schedule hasn't changed.
From reading the Variety article I gather that most of the "50% cut in reality programming" consists of not replaying the reality shows ad nauseam on weekday mornings and afternoons, i.e. outside of prime time. The prime time schedule hasn't changed.
Joe Grunow
Anyone else wonder if TWC has all of a sudden cracked the code? They suspended all regularly scheduled programming today to devote live coverage to the severe weather anticipated in the Midwest/South Plains. Maybe after all these years they figured it out - even though this was a Slight Risk with questionable potential, they are focusing on what they are supposed to - current weather!