Change in the Weather

The holidays are over and now the post-holiday blues are ready to set in - and this year (thanks to the writer's strike) there's not going to be much new TV to help pull one out of the funk.

But, we shall endeavor to persevere.

I've had several opinions over the last month, but not nearly enough time to post.

The most troubling development in TV (beyond the strike, which MAY just cripple broadcast TV for a long time) is Thursday's announcement that the Weather Channel is for sale.

The Weather Channel (TWC) and weather.com, up until now, have been fiercely independent. TWC isn't part of any massive vertically integrated congolmerate.

Yet.

The company most interested in TWC? Why, it's NBC/Universal.

Yep. The man who has ruined so much of so many cable and broadcast entities, Jeff Zucker, may be getting his hands on a channel that is uniquely positioned in the cable world.

In a time when Sci-Fi shows wrestling, and History explores UFOs ad nauseum, TWC has managed to pretty much cover THE WEATHER 24/7.

Two things could happen if NBCU gets TWC.

First, we could see program changes. Perhaps some weather related disaster films produced in Canada, TWC meteorologists doing forecasts for NFL Sunday night games, maybe a variety show featuring The Weather Girls or guest celebrity forecasts featuring the briefcase girls from DEAL OR NO DEAL.

Second, the hideous force-fed Green Week on NBCU channels will be aggressively expanded. You see, the company that controls NBCU is General Electric. It is GE's stated goal to promote the concept of global warming in order to promote compact fluorescent bulbs, along with other 'green' technologies that would not be adopted without mountains of propaganda.

Imagine the outcry if Exxon controlled NewsCorp.

Meanwhile, the FCC is going ahead with its plan to change the rules about cross ownership of TV stations and newspapers.

Soon we will be exposed only to the messages that GE, Disney, Coke, McDonald's and Rupert Murdoch want us to see.

None of this is good news.

Stay tuned.