Who Now Controls The Weather? NBC Uni

Like there isn't enough media consolidation... News reports say NBC Universal and two partners have reached a deal to buy The Weather Channel from Landmark Communications, ending a long negotiation that had attracted several Big Media companies -- Time Warner and CBS and Comcast. The AP says the purchase price was $3.5 billion in cash. NBC Uni was joined in the deal by private equity firms The Blackstone Group and Bain Capital. The entertainment company picks up The Weather Channel, seen by 97% of U.S. cable subscribers, weather services for newspapers and radio stations, and the widely used Web site Weather.com.

« SAG Takes A Page From AMPTP Trade Ad   B&C Steals Vet Hollywood Reporter Editor »

16 Comments »

  1. I think there is a point where a company gets too big, and then collapses under its own weight. However, since the 80s the mindset has been to forget about running the business you have well, just keep buying up more companies and expanding.

    Comment by Furious D — July 6, 2008 @ 3:46 pm

  2. That web site better be worth it because if viewers had a choice they would cancel the weather channel as happened in many countries.

    Comment by John — July 6, 2008 @ 4:15 pm

  3. Their new slogan:

    All Global Warming, All the Time…

    Comment by Rain Man — July 6, 2008 @ 5:22 pm

  4. And I bet the first thing NBC-Uni does is try to figure out a way to screw Mother Nature out of residuals for repeat weather patterns.

    Comment by Hank Hollyweird — July 6, 2008 @ 6:00 pm

  5. There goes the weather!

    Comment by independant producer — July 6, 2008 @ 6:52 pm

  6. Rain Man, you beat me to it. But let me add that I can’t wait for the 17 hour series on the miracle of the rainbow at Tim Russert’s funeral.

    Comment by Paul — July 6, 2008 @ 8:45 pm

  7. OMG…Jeff Zucker in charge of the weather. He’ll make the Global Warming predictions look like small potatoes when he gets through with it.

    Comment by BriteBlonde1 — July 6, 2008 @ 9:44 pm

  8. “Who now controls the weather?”

    AMPTP?

    Comment by peggy — July 7, 2008 @ 6:29 am

  9. How will NBCUNI cross-promote this???
    Look for the answer on an upcoming episode of Law & Order!

    Comment by Jim at NBC — July 7, 2008 @ 7:40 am

  10. Weather.com is in the top 10 of all web sites and gets HUGE traffic. But it is underutilized and boring. NBC U could revitalize it and more than earn back their investment with the online property alone.

    Comment by Mike — July 7, 2008 @ 8:42 am

  11. “Their new slogan:

    All Global Warming, All the Time…”

    Good god, you’re right.

    Comment by Jeesh! — July 7, 2008 @ 9:16 am

  12. Just think how it would be if Rupert Murdock bought it.
    Tornado in Ohio: A Democratic ploy to swing the election?

    Comment by Yosemite — July 7, 2008 @ 10:14 am

  13. Yes, I’m sure NBC can figure out how to make weather EXCITING! Maybe they’ll add some of their current promos, you know, the ones that look like spoofs… but they’re serious.

    Comment by Low Pressure — July 7, 2008 @ 10:18 am

  14. watch for broadcasts claiming GE’s refusal to clean up its pollution of the Hudson somehow improves weather patterns

    Comment by Gee — July 7, 2008 @ 2:32 pm

  15. Well, now that Chris Hansen needs a new gig maybe he can sign on for a new investigative series: To Catch A Hurricane.

    In all seriousness however, I’d hate to be in the employ of NBC Weather Plus. This can’t be considered a vote of confidence for them.

    Comment by MovieMatty — July 7, 2008 @ 4:20 pm

  16. cant wait to see the 5 hours of law and order repeats in the evenings.

    egh God people we’ve got to stop all this consolidation somehow, but of course we all should have said this about 7 years ago.

    Comment by troy — July 7, 2008 @ 6:38 pm

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Leave a comment

XHTML ( You can use these tags): <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong> .