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NBC-Universal to Purchase The Weather Channel

T

Tim-In-Houston

Reuters is reporting this morning that NBC-Universal, in a $3.5 Billion deal, will announce the purchase of cable network The Weather Channel from Landmark Communications. Primary backing for the deal are hedge fund managers Blackstone Group and Bain Private Capital.

About half of the money for the deal will come from the private equity groups, according to sources.
 
NBC-Universal/Blackstone/Bain are the leading bidders, but the article doesn't say that bidding has stopped yet.

To whoever ends up with TWC, will this be the end of the reality-at-the-most-inopportune-time programming, or >ugh< just the start of even more?!?
 
Wow. I just hope that they keep the channel focused on WEATHER and keep from Hollywood-izing the channel. Would not be surprised to see a Weather Channel tie-in with the next natural disaster movie from Universal. Or heck, maybe a weather-based reality show. Don't put it past NBC to do it.
 
America's Next Top Weathercaster!

In all honesty, I don't see NBCU "corrupting" the channel as my fellow posters do. NBC Weather+ is arguably more true to Mother Nature than TWC.
 
Safe to say there will be a TON of promotional tie ins between NUTS (Nbc Universal Television Services) and TWC.

TWC has enough viewers now that its worth it to buy it out and get that Global Warming message out once and----- I'm sorry, get those viewers to start watching some quality televison programming on the Networks of NBC...in two languages, no less.
 
since the bid/ask price has not been joined,
this could be a MS and Yahoo deal.
anyway.....two years ago TWC began
to "age down" (their term) the on-air talent.
bottom line: the females were not young
enough. also, Now there are Not as many
pregnancies as there used to be.
with HD-TV, those wrinkles and makeup
to cover-up REALLY show up.
mantra: No Mommies and plenty of cleavage.
just wait until NBC gets hold of TWC and the
female talent will look like the ADA's in Law and Order.
 
As Scott Fybush said, does this mean The Weather Channel would replace NBC Weather Plus? Also, would it be available on over-the-air digital TV?
 
If NBC Universal and partners acquire The Weather Channel, there are things that are for certain, and others that are not.

TWC will remain headquartered in Marietta, GA. They invested $60 Million to upgrade to HD (which will start Monday), so I don't see them moving.

NBC WeatherPlus will be no more. Whether TWC is added to NBC affilliate lineups is uncertain. There has been a lot of investment in the WeatherStar local forecast technology (each cable company pays up to $5,000 for a permanent lease on each WeatherStar/Intellistar computer). WeatherScan, TWC's digital all-local forecast network, would most likely change to a format allowing for video forecast insertions by local affiliate meterologists, and would be added to affilates digital lineups instead (currently, there is no motion video on Weatherscan, except for local commercial ad-insertion).

The quality of the programming would not change. TWC would (except for the Today show) provide forecasts for NBC News, CNBC, and MSNBC. Current TV parternship deals with CBS O&O's would be dissolved (the only other deal TWC ever had outside of this was WXIA Atlanta, which went away when WeatherPlus came to town).

Speaking of WXIA...they are moving to a new studio (the old WATL studio which Gannett inherited when they bought WATL). If a deal is done quickly, WXIA might could move the weather operation in with TWC rather than to the new studio, and would be the only station in the US with that benefit.

TWC could also do video forecasts for NBC affiliates without a news operation.

Of course...we don't know the buyer yet. The article was just speculation. The deal is valued at $3.5 billion, and everyone was putting a $5 billion dollar price tag on TWC. If Landmark is not in a rush to sell TWC, they might try to use time as a leverage to squeeze more out of potential bidders.

Now lets look at other potential buyers. If Time Warner acquires TWC, it would be put into the Turner Broadcasting umbrella (which is already headquartered in Atlanta - although TWC would stay in Marietta). Every aspect of the network would remain exactly the same. CNN would shut down it's weather department and use TWC instead. TWC would increase their international weather forecasting operations for CNN International, which would immediately increase the value of the TWC brand (as it would become an international brand).

CBS appears to be out according to reports because of their acquisition of CNET. But they could still be a bidder because a lot of TWC's value is in weather.com, and CBS is buying companies with a focus on the internet (and weather.com has become a go-to site). Again, TWC stays in Marietta (HD investment). The quality of programming become an issue with CBS (given their history of things in both TV and radio). TWC does weather for CBS news, and (scarily) may take over local forecasting operations at some (if not all) CBS O&O's as a cost cutting measure (and possiblity affilates like WGCL Atlanta may benefit greatly...read the Atlanta TV board to see why). While NBC could do the same thing, their track record on keeping things local has been good, even though KNTV and KNSD are mostly switched out-of-market.

If News Corporation gets it (unlikely)...TWC stays in Marietta. Quality goes downhill dramatically. "Forecast Earth" and any other program that does not promote a right-wing political agenda will be cancelled. TWC forecasters will have to pledge allegence to the Republican party. Fox News shuts down it's small weather operation in favor of TWC. WAGA Atlanta may move weather operations in with TWC.

And if Cox gets it (unlikely..but is my choice on who should get it)...TWC most definently stays in Marietta (Cox HQ is a few miles away). Quality goes uphill, as Cox will invest boatloads of money into the operation. WSB-TV and WSB Radio will not do any forecasts out of TWC offices, but Cox TV, Radio, and Newspapers will enjoy a great partnership with TWC.

And finally...Comcast. TWC stays in Marietta. Quality stays the same initally, but they should be wary of decreasing budgets.

My preference is for Cox (or Time Warner)...but NBC Universal and partners is the most likely at this point.
 
jal41 said:
If NBC Universal and partners acquire The Weather Channel, there are things that are for certain, and others that are not.
...
NBC WeatherPlus will be no more.
Click to expand...

While admitting I haven't seen much Weather Plus, are we sure it would go away with a NBC purchase of TWC?

Or would we just see a rebranding ("Weather Channel Too"?) with the ex-Weather+ channel carrying, well, the weather, while ex-TWC runs more of the program-length material? Kinda sorta like the split between CNN and Headline News?

There's still plenty of room for economies of scale, but with Weather+ getting a lot of distribution through retrans-consent is there a point in killing it?
 
If NBC gets it, I think it makes the most sense to merge NBC WX+ with Weatherscan. How about just "NBC Weatherscan?"

What scares me is that TWC will then carry a "Weatherized" version of Access Hollywood. NBC seems determined to foist a version of this show onto every network it can. "Weather Hollywood" could bring in celebrity guest weathercasters and do segments on how celebrities cope with severe weather, or how they enjoy good weather.
 
Hmmm....a day before this "NBC buys TWC" thing was announced...I found out the NBC affiliate (not at O&O) in my market is about to pull the plug on Weather+ for budget reasons....hmmmmm
 
This seems like a foolish move for NBCU. They just slashed budgets at their local stations and now they're going to spend more than a billion on a cable network? (with two other entities paying another billion or two) It's a very risky move. It might pay off, but I am somewhat skeptical.

I would guess that NBC will find a way to make the local forecast on the main channel something that is branded with the local NBC affiliate. I would also guess that the weatherscan channel will either become just like the current Weather + channel or have video inserts from the local NBC affiliate. It seems unlikely to me that NBC would just turn off the Weather + channel and lose that spot on many local cable systems. I could see them changing that to something completely different like an entertainment or news channel of some sort. In fact, if you have read about what they're doing with WNBC New York you can see why a bunch of local news channels might replace Weather + across the country.

The one part of this deal that we're overlooking is the internet. I believe this means NBCU will now own the weather.com website. That's a huge upside on this deal. I have no idea what it bills or how much it was valued in the deal, but I suspect it's going to wind up being the most profitable part of this venture to NBC.
 
I was quite disappointed last week when all those Tornados ripped through Iowa. CNN had Live coverage with Video. However The Weather Channel was running some lame program. I thought to myself that it's a sad day for TWC when they wouldn't even break in with Live coverage of this life and death situation. God forbid they actually show THE WEATHER! TWC has some problems that need to be worked out. Hopefully things will get better under new ownership. The Weather Channel of today has it's priorities all screwed up.
 
Skynet74 said:
I was quite disappointed last week when all those Tornados ripped through Iowa. CNN had Live coverage with Video. However The Weather Channel was running some lame program. I thought to myself that it's a sad day for TWC when they wouldn't even break in with Live coverage of this life and death situation. God forbid they actually show THE WEATHER! TWC has some problems that need to be worked out. Hopefully things will get better under new ownership. The Weather Channel of today has it's priorities all screwed up.
Click to expand...

Like every other cable network (see TVLand) they are chasing the all mighty dollar with realty shows. I don't even bother with the Weather Channel after about 6 eastern time because of those stupid reality shows. I remember a time when I would check the Weather Channel just before going to bed to see the weather for the next day, but no more. I'll check with weather.gov instead of weather.com since they have put so much crap up on their website, too. weather.gov is NOAA's website.
 
If they're making money on realty shows, they must be showing infomercials about foreclosures :D

Sorry, couldn't resist the typo.

Back on topic, I use weather.gov instead of weather.com. For starters, it loads faster, and has no ads. Plus it is the best web place to get info on severe weather alerts.
 
Sadly, as bad as the Weather Channel has gotten about inserting taped programming in the place of actual weather forecasting/reporting and about pushing a political agenda (see Dr. Heidi Cullen); it would only get much worse under NBC/Universal. In fact, my bet would be on them completely ruining the franchise as we know it - if they get a hold of it.

If you think that shows like "When Weather Changed History" are bad, just wait until NBC/U starts programming it. You'll see actual "reality" shows. Things like the "Circus of the Meteorologists" or their innovative new game show "Rain or NO Rain"!

I can see it now, Al Roker posted outside in the rain being questioned by "climate expert" Keith Olbermann. All kidding aside, it is hard to see an upside to this. Though I haven't liked everything that Landmark has done with TWC, they must get credit for really growing the brand and for keeping up with technology as they have. They've done a great job with their graphics and with continually updating the WeatherStar computers at the local cable systems. Their presentations are very professional for the most part - and pretty accurate. It's just the encroachment of non-weather programming into the schedule that has irked me.

But hey, if it makes money - why not? The way some posters here see things, I wonder why EVERY channel doesn't just do wall to wall infomercials. It's all about money and that is what makes money, right? These are the same folks who justify the crap that passes for programming on TV Land and others because it is supposedly profitable. Given that far-too-common mindset, there's nothing good coming of an NBC/U acquisition of TWC.
 
tested said:
The one part of this deal that we're overlooking is the internet. I believe this means NBCU will now own the weather.com website. That's a huge upside on this deal. I have no idea what it bills or how much it was valued in the deal, but I suspect it's going to wind up being the most profitable part of this venture to NBC.
Click to expand...

When word leaked that Landmark was looking to sell off some of its properties (including TWC), the story said that the majority of the $5.0 Billion (at that time, mid-March, maybe February) valuation for TWC came from the website and not the cable channel.
 
What about the TV stations that Landmark owns? Are they part of the deal?

Here in Vegas, Landmark owns KLAS TV-8, the CBS affiliate. They have been the market leader in HD with the first HD newcast in Vegas (and one of the first in the entire country). First affiliate in Vegas with HD weather graphics. And now the first (and only) affiliate in Vegas with an HD chopper. Even their live shots are done as widescreen SD, with all the edited field reports shown in full HD. KLAS blows away the other affiliates when it comes to the HD presentation of their newscast.
 
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