As of today, the Weather Channel has gone dark on satellite provider DIRECTV after the two companies couldn’t reach an agreement over carriage fees.

According to Variety, the two parties didn’t release specific numbers, but the Weather Channel was asking for an increase in its rate since their carriage agreement was extended from Dec. 31, 2013 to today. When DIRECTV wouldn’t pay, the TV provider dropped the channel, citing “there are now a variety of other ways to get weather coverage, free of reality show clutter, and that The Weather Channel does not have an exclusive on weather coverage — the weather belongs to everyone,” according to Dan York, DIRECTV’s chief content officer.

DIRECTV now lists its newly launched WeatherNation on the former channel number for the Weather Channel as well as WeatherNation.

Leading up to the extended Jan. 14 deadline, the Weather Channel launched a publicity campaign, encouraging loyal viewers to contact DIRECTV on their behalf. This is the first time the Weather Channel has had a blackout of this magnitude due to carriage disputes since it launched 32 years ago.

Read more at Variety and MediaPost.

Brief Take: This blackout takes the Weather Channel out of roughly 20 million homes, taking away some of the channel’s value.

[Image courtesy of Weather Channel]

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