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Title: The Weather Channel by Frank Batten, Jeffrey L. Cruikshank ISBN: 1-57851-559-9 Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Pub. Date: 02 May, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.71 (14 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: interesting but......
Comment: This book is a business story of how The Weather Channel became one of the leading media brands in the nation. It is not a "behind the scenes at TWC" tale, although a few pages in the "afterword" give readers a brief glimpse at how it all comes together on air.
The most fascinating parts of Batten's story are the tales of how TWC came to be in the very beginning, from the early company history, to the initial concepts and business plans of the late 1970s and early 1980s, to the 1981/1982 start-up, to the birthing pains caused in part by a messy corporate divorce with one of the founding partners. The book also provides an interesting glimpse into how the cable TV landscape was first settled by pioneers like HBO, ESPN, WTBS/CNN and, of course, TWC.
The latter half of the book deals with many of TWC's forays in the 1990s, including the highly-successful weather.com website, as well as several international ventures). But the final chapters lack excitement or drama.
The book has 264 pages, and it's not a hard read. I think the same story could have been told more effectively in about half the space, leaving out many of the details. The authors of this book focus almost exclusively on the TWC dealings and strategies at the corporate and operational levels. A better story could have been told by weaving in more perspectives from other TWC people, namely the on-camera meteorologists, some of whom have been with TWC since the very early days. Combine the best elements of this book (the first half of the story, in particular) with a real 20 years of "behind the scenes", and you'd have a compelling tale that would appeal to audiences beyond the book's target audience (TWC die-hards, business students, weather and media professionals).
Finally, the book provides 16 pages of full-color photos, but none appears to be older than 1998. Why didn't the authors add photos from the early days? Those of us who have been TWC fans for many years would have appreciated seeing some of the old faces, old graphics, and old technology that have made The Weather Channel the familiar and trusted friend it is today for millions of people.
Despite its flaws, I recommend the book for those who are interested in TWC specifically, or in the media or weather businesses in general.
Rating: 4
Summary: Interesting look at a media success
Comment: This is an interesting book, using the Weather Channel as an example of the birth of specialized channels in the early cable market. Now we take the plethora of channels available to us as a given (57 channels and nothing on), yet in the early days it was a fight to get a new channel carried over cable systems. The Weather Channel succeeded through a strong idea, people that believed in it, and being on the cutting edge of technology. While I expected this to be a straight story of the birth and growth of the Weather Channel, I was surprised to find that it was that, as well as a musing upon communications, and what makes a successful channel, and a successful company. The actual history is only a bit over half the book. The rest looks at the technology involved, and the lessons of leadership, and new ventures. Finally it concludes with some interesting first person stories of experiences in the building of the channel. An interesting read. Not exactly what I expected, but still a fascinating glimpse behind getting a specialized cable channel up and running, and successful for 20 years.
Rating: 2
Summary: Not what I expected, but it is a book on TWC...
Comment: For those thinking about buying this book. One word of caution, it is NOT specifically about TWC. It is more about creating a business from the ground up and ignoring critics, blah, blah, blah. I was hoping for a behind-the-sences type of book on TWC, but this is not the case. A pretty dull book IMO, but a great book if you're a business person.
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