With the slow-motion revolution of cord-cutting speeding up, The Weather Channel is at least smart enough to see the writing on the wall. With weather apps on everyone’s phone, the left-wing Weather Channel has finally come to terms with how useless and unnecessary they are, so they are cutting costs and refocusing.
Fifty jobs have been cut and the Weather Channel’s new focus is going to be — wait for it, wait for it — weather!
With the cable channel bundle coming under increasing pressure, and “skinny bundles” becoming more common, “it’s inevitable that channels will be cut,” Weather Company CEO David Kenny said in an interview.
The plan calls for a singular focus “on our unique strength — and that is the weather.”
With this in mind, “we need to be really clear who we are,” Kenny said.
That means paring back its original programming investments (shows like “Prospectors” and “Fat Guys in the Woods”) and lifestyle coverage. The priority is essential, live weather coverage — particularly during periods of severe weather — and local information.
Low-rated, left-wing cable networks like the Weather Channel (Global Warming propagandists), CNN, Comedy Central, CNN, and MSNBC are all in trouble; they are propped up only by an affirmative action program called “Bundled Cable and Satellite.” Not a single one of these loser networks could survive on advertising revenues based on viewership numbers. Nowhere near enough people watch them.
What keeps these left-wing propaganda outlets in business is one thing: carriage rates paid for by YOU. Even if you never watch them, if these networks are forced on you through your cable package, you are funding each and every one of them.
The entire system has been gamed to not only keep left-wing propaganda outlets no watches on the air, but to keep it profitable to the tune of billions and billions of dollars.
Cord-cutting is a direct threat to this scam. Sick and tired of paying an obnoxiously large cable bills for dozens of channels they don’t watch, millions of people have moved and will move to streaming outlets like Netflix and Amazon where, for less than $10 a month, you get a ton of content. Better still it is commercial free.
Fewer cable customers. Fewer carriage fees. So far the effect has already devastated these multinational scam artists and the cord-cutting revolution is just getting started.
In order to hold on to customers, cable and satellite providers want to cut customer prices. This means providing fewer channels, and the first ones to go are obviously the ones with the lowest ratings — like the Weather Channel.
Over pricing and costs, the Weather Channel has already battled DirecTV and lost.
Another reaction to cord cutting has been the “skinny bundle” mentioned above. This is where your cable provider offers you fewer channels for a lower price. Wisely, the Weather Channel is worried its obsolete service won’t be seen as necessary in a skinny bundle of must-have networks.
For decades, networks like the Weather Channel and CNN didn’t have to worry about ratings. They could program all the garbage they wanted because whether or not people watched THEY GOT PAID. What the consumer wanted was meaningless.
Streaming is changing all of that.
Cut the cord America.
For America.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC