Dish Network to drop Weather Channel tonight

Apparently Dish Network also thinks The Weather Channel “… is relying too much on “weather-tainment” such as movies, and turning away from local-weather reporting.”

Scheduled to happen in just a few hours.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704513104575256880784721458.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2021422020100520
http://www.ajc.com/business/dish-to-drop-weather-532010.html
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-05-20/dish-network-drops-weather-channel-starts-service-update1-.html

Soon to come… Weather Cast. :wink:

The drop doesnt really hurt my feelings…lol

No love lost there. Good riddance.

Well it is still on this morning. :smiley: I guess I am like a sports fan supporting a team on a losing streak. I grew up watching TWC and I would hate to loose it. However, due to their scheduling, I rarely watch it anymore. Many, many times I turn to it to see what is going on around the country and they have a stupid show on. :x Or I have to wait hours to see my local forecast. (other than the NWS on my website) I definitely would not want my Dish bill to increase because of it. I hope this is the “wake-up-call” to put them back on track. If not, and Dish finds another weather source that actually shows the weather, I won’t miss TWC for that long. :wink:

It won’t be a big loss in my house. Dish has already added a channel that seems to be more focused on providing current forecasts, etc rather than entertainment.

Down here in Tortillaville we get (or got) Dish (even though not legal in MX) - 3 days ago they brought the Echostar sat online and it’s focused much closer to the borders. So, no mas Dish, I switched to ShawDirect out of Canada, now I get hundreds of hockey channels (it seems like) weather for Halifax and Saskatoon etc. Life B good.

Will Dish really drop TWC? I would guess it’s just a negotiating position :wink:

(Non TWC watching DirecTV user here)

Yep, not a Dish customer here, but wouldn’t miss it at bit if it left my cable provider.

They’ve lost their way completely. NBC will only continue to ruin it.

I have been watching the new Weather Cast channel. It is much better with far fewer commercials also. That will probably change as they become more popular. Currently only one at a time and no commercials for their own shows. That’s right, they don’t have any shows!

The Weather Channel is just East coast US anyway. Out here people seldom watch it because we’re not really interested in Altanta’s chances for a little thunder while the West Coast is having howling gales etc. and it is never mentioned. The only weather they have for my area (Southwest) is the cable company inserts. :roll:

Addendum to my previous that has to be mentioned!!

I met a local business man through my work who was complaining that the weather forecasts that he needs badly for work and was getting from his Blackberry application for TWC were East Coast slanted and didn’t help him much. I gave him my url which has local NWS forecasts on the half hour and he’s a happy camper now! Just goes to show, Weather Display is one up on TWC! :lol:

I see today that The Weather Cast is gone already and TWC is still there. Dish Network and TWC must have reached a deal at the last minute. They have a notice on channel 213 that The Weather Cast is no longer available and that they are replacing it with local/region weather information from Dish Network and The Weather Channel. So, we’re still stuck with old reruns and stupid movies.

Er… I actually belong to a Weather Channel Forum :oops: (don’t ask) This was posted over there:

DISH Network and The Weather Channel Reach Agreement Includes development of new full-time weather forecasting services

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. and ATLANTA, May 24, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX News Network/ – DISH Network L.L.C. and The Weather Channel today announced that they have reached a multi-year agreement for continued distribution of The Weather Channel on DISH Network’s programming platform.

The deal provides for collaboration between both companies in developing state-of-the-art, full-time weather forecasting services designed specifically for satellite customers, including localized weather programming on DISH Network Ch. 213 (in addition to The Weather Channel’s main feed on Ch. 214), interactive TV applications, as well as new Internet and mobile services.

Deployment of the new services will begin this summer.

“Through this new partnership with The Weather Channel, DISH Network is giving our subscribers exactly what they’ve asked for and more. Not only are we developing a unique satellite service that provides localized weather 24/7, but also we’ll soon deliver personalized weather reports via the Android mobile platform and the web,” said Dave Shull, senior vice president of Programming for DISH Network. “This agreement recognizes the importance of cross-platform video delivery, ensuring that our subscribers will have the most detailed local weather information available at their fingertips anytime, anywhere.”

“DISH Network and their customers are extremely important to us, and maintaining and expanding our partnership is a high priority for our company,” said Mike Kelly, CEO and President of The Weather Channel. “DISH Network will now be carrying two of our channels - The Weather Channel and a customized 24-hour, all-local weather information network - to provide even better service to their customers. We also look forward to working with DISH Network on other cross-platform and interactive initiatives, taking advantage of our leadership position in mobile and the Internet.”
Additional terms of the deal were not disclosed.

I just hope that my bill doesn’t go up now that there are two channels!

Apparently all over a penny :roll:

I feel sorry for the Weather Cast folks, I hope Dish compensated them some way.

Actually some of the local content is still going to come from The Weather Cast. So they haven’t been totally kicked out. I think pretty much anywhere it says “DISH weather” it’ll be provided by The Weather Cast.

Hmmm, so if I have it right, weatherforyou is connected to hamweather which is connected to weathernation which was founded by Paul Douglas who also is behind weather cast - so you have a connection to all this?

WeatherForYou and HAMweather are partners in the personal weather station program we started in 2000 (now PWSweather.com). I’m also the administrator servers HAMweather, and now WeatherNation, uses to distribute their web content, which I’ve done since HAMweather started those services about seven years ago. WeatherNation acquired HAMweather last year. I’m not involved in the video side. I do some template coding for products they provide (like at http://weather.nwherald.com/ )… just adding code, not designing it. And neither WeatherNation nor HAMweather in any way direct the content or operation of WeatherForYou.com. I’ve only been to the WeatherNation offices once when I was in that area anyway for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. :slight_smile:

I guess that’s what you call a “network” :lol:

I still think this is an unfortunate outcome, but it’s only a preview of the main event which is coming soon, Comcast buys NBC Universal and then screws [b]all[/b] the satellite guys.