NBC turning the Weather Channel into Weather Plus 2.0?

[imhomerjay]

And "It's such a nice day in Alaska that lots of people can see Russia, bolstering their foreign-policy credentials, you betcha."

 

[benwolf]

It may not be for you; it certainly isn’t for me. But that’s not the point—if, over time, it’s something that interests enough people to draw more eyeballs, potentially for a longer time, than what existed before would draw, then it’s an improvement to the bottom line.

You certainly have an unusually high amount of faith that NBC executives know what's best to draw eyeballs!
Actually homerjay, as I said several posts back, that's not their main purpose. NBC is sacrificing the quality of The Weather Channel by turning it into a promotional vehicle for their broadcast network. Out goes weather programming (which can be made very interesting) in in comes Al Roker and interviews with NBC "stars" and Jimmy Fallon bits. They don't care that much about drawing more eyeballs. Its a little niche channel they're using to cross-promote. And quite clumsily I might add.

 

[imhomerjay]

Wait, a company is using multiple business lines to cross-promote those various businesses? Wonder why so many different companies in various industries do that...oh yeah, it's to their financial benefit.

And yeah, I'd take the gamble (if I gambled, which I generally don't) that a group that runs a suite of generally successful cable channels would have some ideas about how to improve the financials of another cable operation. USA--usually #1 or #2; SyFy--a good track record of successes recently and good prospects in the near term; MSNBC--no one is going to challenge Fox News for quite some time, but taking that model and doing the mirror image improved their numbers; CNBC--high-value audience blue-chip companies will pay good money for. A whopping 1/8 of the day giving them problems on the broadcast channel doesn't negate all of that.

 

[formeraa]

For some reason, we suppose that for-profit television is going to work differently than other for-profit sectors? Of course, you cross-promote if you have multiple channels (used in the generic sense). For television purists, get used to it. You put up with it everywhere else... Stores cross-promote their websites in their retail stores and their retail stores on their website. ABC seems to have a lot of Disney-related commercials as one would expect.

Even local news does this. In Seattle, KING, KONG, and NWCN are co-owned by Belo. So, KING 5 News constantly reminds us of their newscasts on KONG as well as 24-hour news on NWCN and don't forget KING5.com! Is it sometimes awkward? YES! At 6:59am, they have to tell us that KING 5 MORNING NEWS continues right now just a click away on KONG and, of course, The Today Show is next here on KING 5. In my mind, that's clumsy but it's cross-promotion!

 

[BRNout]

For some reason, we suppose that for-profit television is going to work differently than other for-profit sectors? Of course, you cross-promote if you have multiple channels (used in the generic sense). For television purists, get used to it. You put up with it everywhere else... Stores cross-promote their websites in their retail stores and their retail stores on their website. ABC seems to have a lot of Disney-related commercials as one would expect.

Even local news does this. In Seattle, KING, KONG, and NWCN are co-owned by Belo. So, KING 5 News constantly reminds us of their newscasts on KONG as well as 24-hour news on NWCN and don't forget KING5.com! Is it sometimes awkward? YES! At 6:59am, they have to tell us that KING 5 MORNING NEWS continues right now just a click away on KONG and, of course, The Today Show is next here on KING 5. In my mind, that's clumsy but it's cross-promotion!

Some mild cross-promotion is to be expected. But it has seemed excessive when it comes to the way that NBC has been manhandling the Weather Channel. When the focus seems to be more on cross-promotion than on your mission/format, then I think you start to run into problems with the viewers.

 

[ixnay]

Why'd TWC drop movies in the first place? Why are they bringing them back?

ixnay

Guess nobody on R-I is a TWC insider... :

ixnay

 

[BRNout]

Even local news does this. In Seattle, KING, KONG, and NWCN are co-owned by Belo. So, KING 5 News constantly reminds us of their newscasts on KONG as well as 24-hour news on NWCN and don't forget KING5.com! Is it sometimes awkward? YES! At 6:59am, they have to tell us that KING 5 MORNING NEWS continues right now just a click away on KONG and, of course, The Today Show is next here on KING 5. In my mind, that's clumsy but it's cross-promotion!

You know, I just realized that Belo in Seattle has KING and KONG! Now that's funny! Someone there had a sense of humor and I love it!

 

[thenewageriseth]

It seems like it now that they've decided to change around the graphics again. Now if you have the SD cable feed you get to have a beautifully squashed picture in the top 2/3rds of the screen, along with a rotating radar and five-day planners that are like a reduced "Local on the 8's" on a very-increased bottom 1/3rd graphic which throws out the clock and is useless. Where I am the rotating cities are only ten miles away from each other so it's looping the same conditions over again.

It looks like the TV Guide Channel, and it's beyond ridiculous to look at since you can now only fit so much on the upper 2/3rds of the screen. I already loathed the decision to do most of the forecasts in front of the dim large screen, so this just adds to the frustration with what NBC is doing with the channel.

You mean the CABLE CHANNEL ITSELF? NOESSS! :[ :'( ???