Blacked-Out Weather Channel Spoofs DirecTV

[Mr. Television]

I was watching the weather channel today when this ad came. Funniest commercial I've seen in a long time. lol

http://adage.com/article/media/weath...ispute/291605/

Blacked-Out Weather Channel Spoofs DirecTV 'Cable Effects' Ads
DirecTV Rolls Out New Suite of Weather Features With WeatherNation
By:
Jeanine Poggi
Published: February 10, 2014


Weather Channel will introduce an attack video Tuesday as part of a carriage battle with DirecTV that's left the network dark on the satellite provider for nearly a month.

The commercial, which was developed in-house and produced by State Line Films, is a parody of DirecTV's ongoing "Get rid of cable" campaign and was designed to capture DirecTV subscribers' frustration over the blackout, said Scot Safon, exec VP and chief marketing officer, Weather Channel. Here's the Weather Channel spoof:

Here's some of the inspiration:

The DirecTV video will appear on YouTube, across Weather Channel's digital properties and on its cable channel.

Weather Channel is also looking to air the spot on national TV, but thus far hasn't gained approval, according to a spokeswoman for the channel.

DirecTV and Weather Channel have reached a standstill in negotiations. DirecTV has argued that Weather Channel airs too many programs that don't fit with its stated mission of delivering the weather, such as reality shows like "Coast Guard Alaska."

Weather Channel said it had been seeking an increase of just a penny per subscriber in negotiations. The network costs pay-TV companies an average of 14 cents per subscriber, according to researcher SNL Kagan. That makes it 105th for cost out of 189 networks with license fees that SNL Kagan tracks.

The latest spot from Weather Channel comes as DirecTV announces new weather services for its subscribers in conjunction with WeatherNation, the satellite company's replacement for Weather Channel.

The new services include local weather information at any time, accessible by pressing a button on the DirecTV remote while watching WeatherNation, and "Severe Weather Mix" programming starting in March, which will show six different feeds on one channel during major weather events.

[shotzette]

The weather channel has the most annoying commercial on the radio. Basically, it just bashes DirecTV for getting rid of the weather channel and raising their rates.

Who cares about the weather channel? I see weather on my local news, on weather.com, and on my phone thru WeatherBug. I've never seen such a ridiculous attempt to drum up passion about nothing.

[Zoneboy]

Originally Posted by DirecTV

The Weather Channel airs too many programs that don't fit with its stated mission of delivering the weather, such as reality shows like "Coast Guard Alaska."

What a lame excuse! TWC isn't the only channel that is guilty of this.

[Torgo]

Originally Posted by Zoneboy

What a lame excuse! TWC isn't the only channel that is guilty of this.

Yep, I'd say the majority of channels do this.

[Mr. Television]

Originally Posted by Zoneboy

What a lame excuse! TWC isn't the only channel that is guilty of this.

Exactly. They sure caved in when the Viacom stations were dropped. Didn't miss any of those one bit.

I used to have Direct TV and I went back to Comcast because I had problems with them so I don't care one bit about them. I don't even watch TWC that much but it does come in handy when we have some major bad weather like we are today.