By Suzanne Vranica
The Weather Channel could stay off DirecTV for a "long, long
time," predicted David Kenny, the chief executive of the channel's
parent company, Weather Co., on the first day of the channel's
blackout on the satellite-TV service.
The Weather Channel disappeared from DirecTV's service shortly
after midnight on Monday night, after the two companies failed to
come to an agreement over terms of its distribution contract. It is
the first time the Weather Co.'s Weather Channel has been blacked
out on any pay-TV service since it was launched more than 30 years
ago.
DirecTV, the second biggest pay-TV operator after Comcast Corp.,
is seeking to reduce the fees it pays to carry the Weather Channel
by more than 20%, according to a person familiar with the
situation. The satellite-TV service says increasing use of mobile
apps has reduced the value of the TV channel.
Meanwhile, Weather Co., which is owned by NBCUniversal Inc.,
Blackstone Group L.P. and Bain Capital LLC, was seeking an increase
of one cent, the company said. The channel receives about 13 cents
per subscriber a month, estimates research firm SNL Kagan.
On Tuesday, the two companies couldn't even agree on what
negotiations were under way to resolve the dispute. In an
interview, Mr. Kenny said DirecTV had "never really seriously
negotiated."
A DirecTV spokesman said there had been "ongoing discussions
among high-level executives throughout the weekend, yesterday and
today." The spokesman added that DirecTV had lost only 20
subscribers since the blackout. DirecTV has more than 20 million
subscribers in the U.S.
In anticipation of a blackout, the Weather Channel launched a
public-relations campaign several days ago to convince consumers
that the removal of the channel was a public safety issue. Among
its tactics is a website dubbed keeptheweatherchannel.com, where
consumers can find information to complain to government officials
about the possible blackout.
So far the website has had 1.7 million unique visitors, the
Weather Channel said. The company is also expected to run ads in
USA Today on Wednesday that will promote the website.
Meanwhile, AccuWeather, a State College, Pa., company that
provides weather information on the Web and to many local news
channels and newspapers around the country said on Tuesday that it
would launch a TV channel in the third quarter. It is unclear
whether the company has signed any carriage agreements, but it says
it also will stream the channel online.
AccuWeather is the third-most-popular weather information site
on the web, behind Weather Co. and Yahoo Weather, according to
comScore. The site attracted about 34.4 million visitors in
November. By contrast, Weather Co. and Yahoo Weather attracted 89
million and 35.6 million, respectively.
Write to Suzanne Vranica at suzanne.vranica@wsj.com
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