Dish Network Tries to Ride Out Weather Channel Storm

As if the loss of billions of dollars in pension money and the possible bankruptcy of Medicare aren't enough, America's retired community may now be facing their worst setback yet: the loss of the Weather Channel.

That's right. According to the New York Times, The Weather Channel is currently in a contract dispute with Dish Network that may result in Dish subscribers losing access to the network that turned high pressure fronts into high entertainment.

In fact, the deal between The Weather Channel and Dish Network actually expired last night, though so far everything seems to be proceeding as normal according to the latest updates. This is seen as a sign that perhaps the two parties are still at the negotiating table and could signal the possibility of a last minute reprieve for the millions of grandpas and grandmas who have turned The Weather Channel into one of cable television's most unlikely destinations over the past 28 years.
Of course, old folks aren't the only people watching The Weather Channel; some viewers actually still tune in just to find out what the weather is like rather than to catch the latest special on nature's most wrathful attacks or another rerun of 'Twister.' For those people, though, Dish Network has a plan in place that they claim will actually serve subscribers better by replacing The Weather Channel with something called The Weather Cast instead.

"In contrast to the Weather Channel, the Weather Cast devotes 100 percent of its program schedule to weather reporting," a Dish news release stated. "There are no movies, no wake-up shows and no stories about storms. Further, because its program schedule is all forecasting, it means that the Weather Cast has more time to focus on local weather."

The outcome of this dispute is still unclear, but the outlook calls for hyperbole with a 90 percent chance of spin. In the end, though, we expect this storm, like so many provider contract disputes in the past, to blow over without significant damage.