DirecTv to Drop Weather Channel from Lineup, Critics at Pasadena Press Forum Told

The Weather Channel told the media Saturday of DirecTV’s plan to drop it from its set of programs and urged the public to help the channel be kept in the lineup.

The Weather Channel President David Clark and weather anchor/managing editor Sam Champion spoke onstage during the Television Critics Association’s Winter 2014 Press Tour at the Langham Huntington Hotel.

“Congress and DirecTV need to understand the risks to your local community. Urge DIRECTV to do the right thing,” The Weather Channel said in a statement. “Tell them there is no substitute for The Weather Channel.”

The satellite TV said it planned to drop the program “in response to numerous customer complaints that more than 40 percent of The Weather Channel’s programming is dedicated to reality television shows.”

DirecTV said it “is currently in talks with The Weather Channel on how to provide its service to our customers at the best value.”

The program is set to stop airing Tuesday if no settlement has been agreed upon by then.

DirecTV recently launched WeatherNation or DirecTV channel 361 as an alternative to the Weather Channel in providing 24 hours a day hard news weather coverage.

About 200 professional journalists from Canada and the United States who are members of the association have attended the two-week press tour, which is expected to produce 40,000 stories that will be released throughout the year.

The event is closed to the public.

Television Critics Association’s awards has been awarding achievements in television since 1984. The organization is headed by Scott Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune (president) and Amber Dowling of the TV Guide Canada (vice president). For more information, visit http://tvcritics.org.