According to The Weather Channel, the lives of DirecTV users are at risk now

I was a bit shocked at The Weather Channel's advertising on Twitter.

They've been running adverts all day about how DirecTV doesn't care about their customers' safety, since they dropped The Weather Channel.

I'm not really certain what part of the reality TV programming TWC offers is life saving, but I'm not convinced that I'm going to die without them.

I had various Cable TV companies from 1986 to 2006, through various blizzards and hurricanes, and I rarely ever looked at TWC, but I survived.  I wasn't stuck in ditches or in trouble any other way, so how did having their channel help me?

In 2008, I started with DirecTV and it's been the best experience with a company since living in the Philadelphia suburbs, not dealing with an overbearing Cable TV company.  Despite all the bad weather, I haven't looked at TWC for more than a few minutes, when I was wondering what they were showing.  I'm still not sure but they tell some stories about weather?  I have my own.  Want to ask me about three hurricanes in Florida in 2004?  Want to see my photos?  I didn't think so.

I suppose since I was outside during the hurricanes, photographing them, I'm a risk taker.  So, I have no problem taking a risk and living (or not living) without The Weather Channel.

Their marketing people need to be more careful what they say because legally they would find it difficult to prove that they've saved lives any more than any other channel or service tracking the weather.

This might be enough to cause everyone to think twice about having their channel.

Update 2014.01.17: They're now putting their pledge page in their replies to trick people into pledging to switch.  You could accidentally tap the button to pledge.  I really didn't think that The Weather Channel's management were bad morally, but they're certainly not on the up-and-up right now.

I got an answer about how much money The Weather Channel wanted: $0.01 per customer per month for technology upgrades.  I think there is much more to the story than just the money, unlike Viacom.

Update 2014.04.10: Things have apparently been resolved, but as far as several people are concerned, the damage the marketing people did will never be forgotten.  It was irresponsible to tell us that DirecTV didn't care about our safety.  I'm still not sure how they related just having the channel to safety.  If you don't use it.  It isn't helpful.  I've never found an instance where The Weather Channel gave better information than the locals, but I've always lived within 40 miles of a local channel.