NBCU’s Weather Vein

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NBC Universal has two jobs once it completes its buyout of The Weather Channel: raising anemic carriage fees received by TWC’s flagship basic-cable network and untangling a web of conflicting corporate allegiances. TWC averages just 11 cents per subscriber, per month in carriage fees from multichannel-TV platforms, while 25 cents is more typical for other basic-cable networks with its circulation. With TWC’s carriage in 97 million subscription-TV households, each penny increase works out to nearly a $1 million gain in revenue. NBCU already has a half stake in the NBC Weather Plus multicast channel, a joint venture with its NBC-affiliated stations that is one of TWC’s biggest rivals. Although even competitors suppose principals will find a way to combine the two operations, any cooperation is speculative. That’s because NBCU owns just one-third of TWC, although it is the managing partner. Private-equity outfits Bain Capital and Blackstone Group own the rest.


NBCU’s Weather Vein