Big business fails again...

Earlier this week this email was sent to Verizon Fios cable customers:

Dear Valued Verizon Customer, 

Verizon’s agreements to carry The Weather Channel and Weather Scan have expired, and have not been renewed.  In today’s environment, customers are increasingly accessing weather information not only from their TV but from a variety of online sources and apps.  Verizon is therefore pleased to launch the new AccuWeather Network, which will be available on FiOS® TV on channel 119/619 (HD) and on our free FiOS Mobile App starting March 10, 2015.  Verizon will also provide the FiOS TV WeatherBug “widget” application, which features hyper-local weather, on FiOS TV channel 49. WeatherBug can also be launched by pressing the “widget” button on the FiOS TV remote.

Sincerely,

Your Verizon Team

Please take note that the official Verizon review of the Weather Channel App includes:

Whether you’re hitting the beach, planning a picnic or taking a road trip, it’s helpful to know what kind of weather to expect out there. The Weather Channel app will help you do just that. It helps that the info in it is sourced from one of the most trusted weather outlets there is. 

Thus it appears that, for the benefit of its customers, Verizon cable is dumping its most trusted weather outlet.

There are a few aspects of this that help tarnish Verizon's image. First, it appears that Verizon was not honest in dealing with its customers. The email it sent out was virtually simultaneous with the disappearance of the weather channel.  If Verizon had the opinion it quotes in its email, it could and should have communicated with its customers well before "pulling the plug".  The last minute email makes it appear that Verizon was  surprised by The Weather Channel's not giving in to Verizon's contract demands, and was trying to cover its tracks. 

I suspect the real reason for this mess is that TWC wanted more than Verizon wanted to pay. Well thanks, cable TV, for protecting us from the TWC omnivores. Now how about the same for all those sports channels that really suck out pockets dry?  Why not stand up to them?  After all, most people get the most of their scores and sports information "not only from their TV but from a variety of online sources and apps."

Admit it, Verizon. You screwed up.

Solution? Reinstate The Weather Channel. It still has more weather than the History Channel had history and the Travel Channel has travel.