Weather 4 sale

Posted at 7:17 AM on July 7, 2008 by Paul Huttner (1 Comments)

30 years ago a weather guy named John Coleman spent 3 years flying around the country from New York to L.A. trying to convince TV executives and investors that something called "The Weather Channel" was a great idea.

He was told in no uncertain terms that his idea was crazy, and that a channel devoted only to weather would not work.

This week his little idea sold for 3.5 billion. That's billion, with a "B."

The sale of The Weather Channel this week to NBC caps off a long successful run for the top weather provider in the country. Originally programmed to cover national and local weather, TWC has been criticized by some insiders in the past few years for getting away from what it did best; cover the weather.

The station has added many features and shows which seem to take away from weather coverage. It will be interesting to see how NBC handles programming at TWC. One thing is for sure, when big weather like a U.S. land falling hurricane threatens, TWC's ratings numbers spike through the roof. I have no doubt we will continue to see Jim Cantore standing out in hurricanes as they lash the U.S. coast.

I have a bit of history with TWC. I know Jim Cantore, and have shared time with him and other TWC staff at various weather conferences. I have also interviewed Jim many times. I was once offered a job at TWC but accepted another (better) offer at the time. The process was quite interesting, but is fodder for another time.

I hope the new owners will refocus TWC's broadcast efforts into current and forecast weather. I am sure they will maximize the success of weather.com and take full advantage of the PDA weather craze. It will be interesting to see what directions they choose, and fun to watch.

Let's hope The Weather Channel is thriving in another 30 years, and remains a reliable source for weather as new technologies emerge.

PH

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Comments (1)

I did not watch TWC because they really covered weather only on the coasts and Atlanta. I was very tired of hearing what the weather conditions were like in Atlanta every time I tuned in to TWC. They should have called it TAWC (The Atlanta Weather Channel).

I hope NBC makes the channel into a national weather channel covering everything from NYC to Broken Bow, Nebraska. Where there is weather, cover it vs. showing weather cams of clouds in Atlanta when there are tonadoes in Kansas or Minnesota.

Posted by Curt | July 9, 2008 7:45 AM

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