The Weather Channel

[popo79941]

I hate AccuWeather.......how come customers did not have a choice or a vote to keep The Weather Channel???? AccuWeather stinks, there are no REAL stories nor do the show any weather people out in the field......this is the worst, I watch the weather channel everyday. I might just think about changing my service to someone who has The Weather Channel!!! I hate this.....ugh !

[CRobGauth]

The only national channel that Verizon supports is Accuweather on 119 and 619.

I have watched it a bit. They have national and regional weather.

Across the bottom is local weather. I did see Hampton Roads go by. Cities are in aplhabetical order.

When local radar comes on, I get DC area.

Not sure if they have one customized for southern VA.

[hallrk]

I watched Accuweather for a while to see if they had anything was localized for me. I didn't see it. I live in Northern Virginia. They have DC weather along with countless other cities that scroll through but nothing that pops up at incremental times like the 8's that the Weather Channel had. Also this Widget only works sporadically for me. Lately most of the time the Radar will not pop up when I click on it. IMO its fairly useles and very undependable. Many times the forecast is just flat wrong. Verizon has really dropped the ball with this change from TWC to Accuweather. 

[mbrkelley]

Our contract is up in February 2016, and we're seriously considering our options.  Verizon has already been sending us letters and emails offering us deals to renew early for another two years.  So far what they're offering isn't worth signing up for another two-year contract.  

[Starlight11]

Verizon removed the Weather Channel and replaced it with Accuweather quite some time ago.  Accuweather completely sucks and quality of this channel is abysmal in comparison to TWC.  You can't even get any updates on major weather events...aka the major storm that is hitting the northeast right now.  It's a joke and frankly, I am surprised that it still exists.

Please bring back TWC!

[tns2]

Not likely to be happening.  There is a huge thread on it.

[CowNJ]

A classic example of how worthless the AccuWeather Channel is.  Tonight I spoke with my sister in Kansas City about the severe weather and tornadoes in her area.  The storm had passed, Weather.com showed the front already well East of the city, yet AccuWeather is giving storm advisories for points in the KC metropolitan area.  The TV report was at least 20-30 minutes behind the actual weather.  That is worthless!

Stop the insanity - bring back the Weather Channel.

[midnitestich1]

I can look out my window and get better weather information than AccuWeather provides. It sucks. I NEVER watch it to see what my weather will be because it takes forever to get to where I live. I could understand if I lived in the sticks but I live in a major city. I liked the Weather Channel, followed the storms on it and watched some of its shows. 

[Dan_Miller1]

So Verizon won't rebroadcast TWC, but they don't seem to have a problem using their naming convention.

Yesterday, as I'm sure many of you did as well, I got this email from Verizon Fios:

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Winter Storm Quinn? The NWS has already said that they aren't naming winter storms - that naming convention belongs solely to TWC. So even though TWC is one of the top rated and watched cable networks and VZ has made the political - not business - choice not to carry it, they don't seem to have a problem using their naming for a possibly huge winter event. It's as if they are admitting that they are aware of how important TWC is to their audience. And they are choosing to screw them anyway.

Huh.

[stevekrein1]

I got the same thing this past week with Winter Storm Toby.  I wonder if the people who compose these emails realize that winter storm namimg is exclusively a Weather Channel thing, and since we don't get TWC, we have no idea to what they are referring.  Oh, the irony!

[Dan_Miller1]

I don't see it as irony. More like a slap in the face. Like they are laughing because, hey what are you gonna do about it? A member on this thread keeps trying to justify the move to AccuWeather, saying it was about rating, which is totally bogus. A little Google research will explain the story. Then it becomes about the cost. Nope,  not that either. And no one can say it is about the quality of information a viewer receives. I don't think that even the AccuWeather people would argue that point. 

I understand business. I understand that sometimes unpleasant decisions are made. What I resent is being misled. We are the customer. This is by far the biggest thread about programming on the VZ forums. Overall TWC has higher ratings than many, many channels carried. TWC even offered special pricing to VZ. All of this is public information. But we keep being told in this thread by one member that it isn't going to change, it was about ratings, etc. I can't imagine a reason why a single member would be so adamant about it. I'm sure some conspiracy buffs might be able to come up with something, but this isn't worthy of a conspiracy  right? On the other hand, speaking for myself, I pay well over $100 a month. Probably a bit higher than average, but I'll bet not by much. I think that collectively, we should have a little say in this. 

[CRobGauth]

I assume you are refering to me.

I keep bringing it up because that is what Verizon told us.

Just like other channels they have dropped.

They felt the content was no longer cost effective.

Given the fact that cable providers pay for everyone that has access to a channel whether they watch or not adds up.  And Verizon knows how many people are watching each and every channel. The fact that TWC has chosen to name winter storms, yet no other weather service has chosen to go along means something IMHO. They aren't the juggernaut they used to be. Plus accuweather has been providing weather forecasts for much longer than TWC has been in business. Its possible your local weather is provided by accuweather.

I know a lot of people turn to TWC when there are sever events. But how many people watch TWC on a daily basis? Vs home many people that are subscribers to FIOS. TWC was part of every package.

BTW, there was a news announcment that Byron Allen bought TWC.

Will be intersting to see if he packages TWC with his 7 other channels that FIOS carries. And if he does for FIOS and other providers, how many may not be willing to take 7 channels just to keep TWC. Time will tell.

[uncle1mike]

I could not wait for The Weather Channel to return to Fios. I switched back to Spectrum.  Spectrum is also cheaper for the same channels for 3 years.

[Joe01880]

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@CRobGauthwrote:

TWC has chosen to name winter storms, yet no other weather service has chosen to go along means something IMHO.

I know a lot of people turn to TWC when there are sever events. But how many people watch the TWC on a daily basis.

BTW, there was a news announcment that Byron Allen bought TWC.

NBC Universal owns the weather channel or so that's how's a simple Google search turns up.

I watched The Weather Channel on a daily basis, sometimes much of the day and I enjoyed many of the filter shows played during laps in weather events or breaking news and so do a lot of people I know.

Most of the NBC affiliate stations I have seen in different parts of the country also use the winter storm names the weather channel applies to larger storms. Even tho arguable I personally see nothing wing with it, at least one knows which weather storm is being addressed!

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[hurricankaren]

any update on obtaining the weather channel???  that other weather station you provide is very limited and not worth watching.....I get the same weather reports on local news........

[tns2]

The update is that they have no plan to restore the weather channel.  They feel the cost is too high.  In this a bunch of other ISPs agree.  Almost all complained and threatened or did drop as well.  Most of the major ISPs later decided to carry it.

As you mentioned in most areas the locals carry good weather information durin a major storm and many people use the internet when they want weather info.

[ILUVTWC]

You must be one of those Verizon execs who got overpaid with money not spent on providing TWC.

[tns2]

Pretty much no Verizon people are on this Forum, certainly not on this thread.

It is a waste of time continuing to post on this thread.  Verizon isn't looking at it.

[grantini]

I've been a fan of the Weather Channel since it's inception.  Fortunately I have COMCAST at my office so I can watch it at work.  When something is going on it is the best source of info.  Accuweather is a non issue, it's useless and CNN's has the most juvenile and idiotic reporters in the universe.

I pay Verizon every month.... give me back my Weather Channel!

[Dan_Miller1]

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@tns2 wrote:

Pretty much no Verizon people are on this Forum, certainly not on this thread.

It is a waste of time continuing to post on this thread.  Verizon isn't looking at it.

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And your reasoning for this completely untrue statement? There are VZ people all over these forums.

This thread is the number 1 thread in the programming forum.

VZ may not be commenting, but I guarantee they know of its existance.

And to the people who ask, "besides storm coverage, is there anyone who actually watches TWC?" I can answer for me and a bunch of people that I know personally-- YES.

When I was on Optimum, it was the channel that I had my system programmed to bring up first when my system powered on. It was the channel that I turned on while still in bed waking up. Their local coverage is unsurpassed. There is not an internet service, channel, or streaming app (including Local Now) that beat its local on the 8s update. I know because not only do I work in the industry, but I have searched and paid for many trials once I discovered after swithcing to Fios that TWC wasn't there any more. The closest I have found so far is subscribing to DirecTV Now on my Roku and getting TWC through them. That gets my local on the 8s to about 3 more towns south of where I live. Local Now simply gives me NYC, which even though it's only about 40 miles away, is a world apart because I'm on the shore. But I digress.

The point is that VZ absolutely knows that we are here and complaining about this. Their choice as far as we are concerned is to ignore us. They can't ignore it though. I'm sure their business reason are sound. But I'll bet that they would be surprised if it were offered as a premium channel. Personally, I'd pay an extra 9.95 a month for it. It's better than 14.95 for DirecTV NOW on my Roku which I am only using for TWC.

With the beginnings of true IPTV in this country (amazing to me that it has taken so long compared to Europe), It might not be too much longer for Fios TV or any one provider to exist. Within 5-10 years every channel and network will be available over IP for a true à la carte service opportunity for viewers. Hopefully VZ will give people what they want - even charging for it - until they can't any more. But making the choice for us is very last century.

Just my 2¢

[CRobGauth]

You have to have enough customers willing to pay to make it worth it.
There are fixed costs associated with connecting for content.

And I would assume that TWC would have to agree to this business model.

How much would they get of the charge?

Verizon had info (as they stated when channel was dropped) that the number of customers who watch was too low to justify the cost (remember they pay for every customer regardless if they watch or not).

[tns2]

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@Dan_Miller wrote:

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@tns2 wrote:

Pretty much no Verizon people are on this Forum, certainly not on this thread.

It is a waste of time continuing to post on this thread.  Verizon isn't looking at it.

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And your reasoning for this completely untrue statement? There are VZ people all over these forums.

...

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You would be surprised how few official Verizon people are on these forums.  

Verizon knew exactly how many were watching TWC when weather events were not occurring.  When TWC raised their per household charge, they decided it cost too much.  And they were not the only TV Cable/Satellite company that thought so.  A few others dropped TWC or threatened to.  At least one came back, but Verizon doesn't look to be one considering doing so.