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Verizon FiOS drops The Weather Channel, picks up AccuWeather

Started by cpzilliacus, March 10, 2015, 12:03:46 PM

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vdeane

If the signal is marginal to begin with at a property it can go out for weather far more often than normal, but for even a little sprinkle I think is an exaggeration that cable companies use to try to stop people from switching to satellite (and also to sell cord cutters packages that are the exact same channels you can get over the air).  I know a couple of my relatives had their signal improve immensely simply by moving next door (though they moved for other reasons), simply because there were fewer trees in between the dish and the sky.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position of NYSDOT or its affiliates.


02 Park Ave

When I had DISH network, I found lightning to be the most disruptive to satellite reception.

However, during the Super Bowl Day blizzard out in Chicagoland, my daughter did lose the DirecTV signal for 24 hours.
C-o-H

slorydn1

On average I may lose signal 3 or 4 times a year during approaching thudnerstorms, usually for about 10 minutes. Usually it could be raining really hard, but I still have signal. My issues seem to arise when I have a taller than normal cumulonimbus cloud immediately to my SW, the ice crystals near the top of the cloud block my satellite reception, yet when the storm moves over my house and the rain begins to fall, it clears up.

I have lost signal during a snow event before, but I have found that something as simple as hosing off the dish will clear it of snow and the signal comes right back (yep, I said hosing, I'm too lazy to climb a ladder and brush it off).  :p


Really my only complaint with all of this is why does it take 10+ minutes for my DVR to reboot when a not-so-nearby lightning strike causes my power to flicker the slightest bit?
Please Note: All posts represent my personal opinions and do not represent those of any governmental agency, non-governmental agency, quasi-governmental agency or wanna be governmental agency

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Brian556

Back when I had Direst TV, it always went out during heavy rain. I don't recall it snowing during my short experience with it. Lots of other people say that the snow accumulation on the dish is what causes the problem, and sweeping it off fixes it.

cpzilliacus

WSJ.COM: At the Weather Channel, Gloomy Skies Linger - TV network's core business–the fees it collects from pay-TV providers–is facing a major threat

QuoteStorm clouds are gathering over the Weather Channel.

QuoteThe TV network, known for its round-the-clock forecasts and tracking of big weather events like hurricanes and blizzards, is facing a major threat to its core business–the fees it collects from pay-TV providers that carry its channel.

QuoteVerizon Communications Inc. dropped the Weather Channel last month from its FiOS TV service, which reaches 5.6 million households, citing customers' growing use of online sources and apps to look up weather information. The network is scrambling to pull every lever it can to get back on the air, including threatening not to give the telecommunications giant an unrelated Web traffic contract, according to people familiar with the matter.

QuoteMeanwhile, another battle is looming with satellite provider Dish Network Corp. The companies' carriage contract expires in coming months and the Weather Channel's backers are preparing for the possibility of being dropped by Dish, which has about 14 million subscribers, the people familiar with the matter said.

QuoteThe financial outlook for parent company Weather Co. is deteriorating. Moody's Investors Service on Friday downgraded the company's debt, saying it isn't perceived by cable and satellite companies as a "must have"  channel, and could therefore be dropped by more providers or face cuts in carriage fees.

QuoteThe immediate concern, however, is getting carriage on Verizon's FiOS service. The Weather Co. has been in talks with Verizon to purchase "content delivery network"  services–essentially sophisticated Web traffic routing. But after its channel was dropped last month, Weather Co. terminated those talks in hopes of putting some pressure on Verizon, the people familiar with the situation said. Verizon has so far been unmoved.
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ET21

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Scott5114

It would be cool if TWC focused on technical, in-depth explanations of current weather events. Show us soundings and isobars! I'd love to see a TV weather map with honest-to-God wind barbs.

Sadly, TWC is currently the complete opposite of that. I don't even mind documentaries during prime time if they were things like an analysis of why Katrina was so bad, or an explanation of tornadogenesis, or a look at how NWS decides when to issue watches and warnings.

Side note...if this kind of stuff is interesting to you, and you're in Norman in the fall, look up when the Weather Festival is being held. It's essentially an open house for the National Weather Center, which hosts both the Storm Prediction Center (which originates all of the watches for the entire US) and NWS Norman. I went a few years back and it was tons of fun.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

Brian556

I really miss the Weather Channel. It was so nice to for coverage of severe weather outbreaks, as well as the "big picture" of what's going on nationwide.
I really hate Verizon for dropping them. Accuweather is shit. During a big severe outbreak, Accuweather was doing "business as usual", when the Weather Channel would have been covering the severe weather.

Despite all of people's complaints about the Weather Channel, there are still a lot of god things about it.

SSOWorld

Quote from: Brian556 on April 13, 2015, 08:27:55 PM
I really miss the Weather Channel. It was so nice to for coverage of severe weather outbreaks, as well as the "big picture" of what's going on nationwide.
I really hate Verizon for dropping them. Accuweather is shit. During a big severe outbreak, Accuweather was doing "business as usual", when the Weather Channel would have been grandstanding and showboating the severe weather.

Despite all of people's complaints about the Weather Channel, there are still a lot of god things about it.
FTFY.  TWC is not interested in coverage, they're interested in ratings.  The naming of winter storms brought in ratings.
Scott O.

Not all who wander are lost...
Ah, the open skies, wind at my back, warm sun on my... wait, where the hell am I?!
As a matter of fact, I do own the road.
Raise your what?

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briantroutman

Quote from: Scott5114 on April 13, 2015, 08:17:47 PM
It would be cool if TWC focused on technical, in-depth explanations of current weather events. Show us soundings and isobars! I'd love to see a TV weather map with honest-to-God wind barbs.

Despite having a Weather Channel obsession as a kid, I don't watch it anymore. Of course I haven't had any kind of TV service in about a decade, so that's definitely a contributing factor.

I recall that after the DirecTV standoff, The Weather Channel announced they would be making a concerted effort to drop unrelated programming and focus more on forecasts and meteorologically-oriented content. I think it was about the same time that they announced they were hiring back fan favorite Dave Schwartz after a "Bring Back Dave"  campaign. But I never saw Dave back on the air, and the few glimpses I got on hotel room TVs suggested that nothing had changed for the better. Although on a recent hotel stay, I noticed a new show on the on-screen guide: "Wx Geeks" .

Does anyone still watch The Weather Channel–and could they provide an update on the state of affairs?

02 Park Ave

It has been announced that Verizon will be introducing quasi-a al carte channel selection tomorrow.  There will be a basic package and then small groups of channels that can be added on to it.  Perhaps The Weather Channel would be in one of them.

Regardless, I hope that I can cut my monthly bill in half.
C-o-H

renegade

Quote from: slorydn1 on March 14, 2015, 01:39:12 AMReally my only complaint with all of this is why does it take 10+ minutes for my DVR to reboot when a not-so-nearby lightning strike causes my power to flicker the slightest bit?
One of these will fix that:
http://www.microcenter.com/product/415577/600VA_Back-UPS_with_8_Outlets_and_Network_Protection
Don’t ask me how I know.  Just understand that I do.

huskeroadgeek

#37
I started watching Weather Nation on DirecTV last year when they dropped TWC for awhile. I never went back to TWC even after they brought it back. Only time I watch it now is for major weather stories coverage because Weather Nation doesn't have the kind of extensive coverage TWC does. Weather Nation actually has weather all the time and not a bunch of TV shows some of which aren't even weather related. I also find the naming winter storms by TWC to be annoying. Hardly anybody uses the names outside of them-the local media doesn't use them at all. I don't watch Weather Nation as often as I used to watch TWC especially back in the 90s when I was in college and it provided a nice background when I was doing homework, but I still watch it usually at least once a day for at least a little while.

hm insulators

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