There is nothing wrong with your television set.
But many Verizon FiOS customers were nonetheless startled Tuesday morning to discover that, with no warning, The Weather Channel had vanished overnight from their TV lineup, only to be replaced by a new 24/7 weather channel run by its closest competitor, AccuWeather.
Goodbye, Jim Cantore bending into a hurricane. Goodbye, winter storm “Thor.” Goodbye, “Fat Guys in the Woods” reality TV programming. Hello, nonstop weather coverage by nerdy meteorologists you may have never heard of — yet — who will nonetheless be available around the clock to tell you exactly when it’s going to snow.
The Weather Channel has come under fire in recent years for its increased use of reality TV programming during slow periods, and use of “named” storms. It remains to be seen whether the new, untried AccuWeather Network can match it.
But in State College on Tuesday, AccuWeather CEO Barry Lee Myers was crowing about his new network — and its stealthy debut.
“We kept this under wraps for a year,” he said. “People have been asking, ‘Why is there a need for another Weather Channel?’ Ours looks and feels different. It’s new, it’s vital, it blends in well with the suite of devices out there that already people use to get their weather. We have a really strong crew of people, and I have no doubt they will develop a following.”
A Verizon official insisted that the switch was “a business decision” based on the increased use of digital media by consumers to get their weather and a demand for weather coverage without reality TV programming. Faced with declining ratings, The Weather Channel began running shows like “Highway Thru Hell” and “Prospectors” several years ago to boost ratings during slow periods.
The new AccuWeather Network “allows us to maintain an ‘all weather, all the time’ presence for our customers with FiOS TV who want a specialized view of both local and national weather activity while also reducing somewhat our overall rising content costs,” said Lee Gierczynski, a Verizon spokesman. In addition, FiOS will offer a WeatherBug widget for hyperlocal weather, available based on ZIP code, on the cable provider’s channel 49. It can be launched by pressing the “widget” button on the FiOS TV remote.
David Clark, president of The Weather Channel, called Verizon’s action a negotiating tactic, albeit a surprise one, during ongoing contract renewal talks with Verizon, “We had no indication there were any issues,” he said. “We were told by Verizon that our rates were fair. The issue isn’t whether The Weather Channel provides value for the money, it’s about leverage.”
Moreover, “Television is indispensable in the coverage of storms, and The Weather Channel does storm coverage better than anyone. The complexity of having 10 crews in the field, backed up by a meteorologist — that is very hard to do. Even the big national broadcast networks don’t do it. It is a heavy lift, but you’re talking about coverage that people take very seriously.”
The Weather Channel is partly owned by Comcast, which is the dominant presence in the Pittsburgh cable market compared to Verizon. Neither company provides subscriber numbers.
Not only will The Weather Channel still be available on Comcast, it has a far larger online presence than State College-based AccuWeather, which was founded in 1962. It serves about 175,000 paying clients and several hundred local TV stations, providing both 45-day and minute-by-minute forecasts.
On social media, reaction was mixed.
One viewer, Regis Briskin, commented on the Post-Gazette website that he’d looked for a Pittsburgh forecast on the new AccuWeather Network, but only found one for New York.
“Hello Verizon, I do not live in New York or expect to move there anytime in 1,000 years. What a joke. Verizon is just [dumping] these channels for a lower grade of service. Hello Verizon?? Are you listening. I want those weather channels back ASAP. Next time my service comes up for renewal, I will be reminding you of your stupid move.”
On the other hand, Randy Bandy, another commenter, seemed only to pretend to be sorry that The Weather Channel, and its named winter storms, had disappeared.
“I am not going to be able to sleep at night not knowing what the human name of the next winter weather system is designated as. This is really important information. I don’t know about you.”
First Published: March 10, 2015, 2:45 p.m.
Updated: March 11, 2015, 3:29 a.m.