Community Corner

DirecTV Customers Lose Weather Channel

The TV provider and channel were unable to come to an agreement on subscriber fees.

DirecTV subscribers, as of 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, can no longer watch the Weather Channel.

The satellite TV provider and channel had been embroiled in a disagreement over subscriber fees, with DirecTV wanting to pay less for the content than the Weather Channel was willing to take. When the two sides did not reach an agreement by the appointed deadline, the channel went off the air.

In somewhat of a new twist for these kinds of disagreements, the Weather Channel had said that access to the content it provides was a matter of public safety, and urged its viewers to contact members of Congress on the issue.

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Weather Channel CEO David Kenny said in a statement: “This is unprecedented for The Weather Channel. In our 32 years, we have never had a significant disruption due to a failure to reach a carriage agreement. We offered DIRECTV the best rate for our programming, and I am shocked they have put corporate profits ahead of keeping a trusted channel that subscribers rely on every day. We are not looking for a large fee increase. We are simply looking for a fair deal that allows our company to continue to invest in the science and technology that enables us to keep people safe, deliver the world’s best weather, and tell weather stories to help people be prepared and informed.”

DirecTV chief content officer Dan York said in a statement that the situation was “regrettable,” but added, “The Weather Channel does not have an exclusive on weather coverage — the weather belongs to everyone.”

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