By Suzanne Vranica and Shalini Ramachandran
DirecTV is close to an agreement to restore the Weather Channel
to its program lineup, say people familiar with the matter, after a
months-long dispute between the two companies over program
fees.
As part of the deal, DirecTV is expected to agree to a small
increase in the fees it pays to Weather Channel, although the
increase will be less than the penny a subscriber a month the
channel wanted, one of the people said. Weather Channel now
receives about 13 cents per subscriber a month, estimates research
firm SNL Kagan.
Still, any increase would be a retreat for the satellite
operator, the second-biggest pay-TV firm, which serves about 20
million subscribers. DirecTV had wanted to severely reduce the fees
it pays Weather Channel, the Journal has previously reported,
arguing that consumers were growing more reliant on the Web and
mobile devices for weather information.
The dispute highlighted how changing consumer media habits are
affecting the value of pay-television channels. The Weather Channel
was taken off DirecTV service in mid-January.
As part of the agreement, Weather Channel has agreed to increase
the airtime it gives to weather-related news, two of the people
said.
Weather Channel is a unit of Atlanta-based Weather Co., which is
owned by a consortium that includes Comcast Corp's NBCUniversal as
well as private-equity firms Blackstone Group L.P. and Bain Capital
LLC.
The TV channel has revamped its programming over the past few
years to rely less on weather forecasts, adding reality-TV programs
among other changes. It also hired high-profile talent, including
Sam Champion, the long-time "Good Morning America" anchor.
DirecTV had been critical of the reduced reliance on weather,
noting that 40% of the Weather Channel's content is now reality
programming.
Write to Suzanne Vranica at suzanne.vranica@wsj.com and Shalini
Ramachandran at shalini.ramachandran@wsj.com
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