NBC Universal to buy Weather Channel

[Dr. Whiplash]

GE's NBC Universal and partners are buying The Weather Channel for $3.5 billion and change...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080706/ap_ ... _channel_5

[genlock]

New program: Olympic weather throughout the years.

[AmpedNow]

Does this mean that all NBC affiliates local weathercasts will eventually have TWC logos in it?

They've never had any TV competition.When will Accuweather launch their own HDTV channel?

[genlock]

Why would the affiliates change?
All of those stations have contracts.
Maybe over a couple of years, but I don't see anything happening soon.
Maybe the NBC switch will change what is wrong with the WX channel.
Get rid of Heidi Cullen.

[The Big Ear]

I read that we should look for TWC folks to start showing up on NBC Nightly News. TWC gets large ratings when there are hurricanes. I could see their experts interacting with Brian Williams. That's just for a start.

It's also a nice fit with the facade that GE puts on about being all "green."

[Arp2]

It's also a nice fit with the facade that GE puts on about being all "green."

That's just Immelt's attempt to grow GE's earnings somewhere.

A somewhat controversial choice to succeed Jack Welch, Immelt has struggled to even approach matching Welch's record. You may recall one of Welch's key philosophies was to be number one or two in any business GE fdoes or get out of that business; if that were still the case for the company, GE is getting to the point of needing to break itself up. Immelt sees the windmills and so on as his only hope to halt GE's seemingly never-ending stock slide.

Immelt is so desperate that he recently told an environmental organization leader "we (the US) need to have the courage to be China for just one day" such that a supremely-powerful gubmint could mandate everyone buy and live off of GE Ecomagination stuff or be murdered. No, I'm not kidding, and neither was he.

That is precisely why you see all that nonsense throughout the GE broadcast properties -- a desperate and obvious pressuring of business toward Immelt's only hope of not going down as the biggest loser and flop in corporate history.

[David Paleg]

Well, there goes The Weather Channel. NBC will cancel it after a few days the same way they cancel good shows after a couple of airings. Will TWC meteorologists take over the weather on the Today Show? Add weather reports to Leno and Conan? Hire Matt LeBlanc or The Hoff to do weather reports?

[Paradigm]

what will happen to NBC's Weather Plus that many stations are airing on the HD subchannel?

[cgarison]

what will happen to NBC's Weather Plus that many stations are airing on the HD subchannel?

I guess NBC Weather Plus will become TWC. And CNBC will have to get TWC instead of their current AccuWeather feed.

[Dave Harman]

The first thing they'll do is fire the ugly or fat weatherwomen.

The second will be to hire decent stylists for the remaining staff - something that needed done waaaay back.

The weather? Whatever. Everyone does weather.

[Arp2]

what will happen to NBC's Weather Plus that many stations are airing on the HD subchannel?

I guess NBC Weather Plus will become TWC. And CNBC will have to get TWC instead of their current AccuWeather feed.

CNBC has been using WeatherPlus for a long time, now only extremely rarely talking to Accuweather (a couple of times a year, maybe) regarding an unusual event. (Accuweather can't be forced by Immelt into spouting the "global warming" mantra; as a matter of fact, Accuweather's Joe Bastardi can and will cite day-and-date when anything and everything we see today happened in the fairly recent past, too, and point out that the pattern actually favors an ice age!)

Zucker said this morning that WeatherPlus will continue for the locals for at least some time to come.

By the way, I agree that Heidi should go. On top of being insane and a likely Stalinist, she's an absolutely, atrociously awful broadcaster. Unfortunately, that makes her a freaking star in the new "save my butt at any cost" world of Jeffrey Immelt.

[Ace Purple]

A friend of mine who works for the Weather Channel told me that he shared an elevator ride at work yesterday with NBC President Jeff Zucker, the Today Show's Al Roker, and Mitt Romney (who was there because of his Bain Capital connection).

[Mr. Tom Jones]

This is going to get better...

Reports in the trade rags suggest NBC TV affiliates will start having to pay reverse comp.

How else does GE think NBC can pay for TWC?