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Outlet profile

The Weather Channel

U.S. center, science-oriented

Owned byTV network owned by Allen Media Group, a privately held company controlled by media entrepreneur Byron Allen. Digital properties (weather.com, mobile apps, Weather Underground) are owned by The Weather Company, a standalone company under private equity firm Francisco Partners since 2024.
FundingPrimarily advertising revenue and cable and satellite carriage fees paid by pay-TV distributors for the television network; digital properties are funded through advertising and data licensing.
On the administrationbroadly critical

Background

The Weather Channel was founded in Atlanta in 1980 by TV meteorologist John Coleman and Frank Batten of Landmark Communications, launching on May 2, 1982 as the first 24-hour cable channel dedicated entirely to weather. Landmark sold it in 2008 to a consortium of NBC Universal, Blackstone Group, and Bain Capital for $3.5 billion. In 2015, IBM acquired the digital and data assets — including weather.com and forecasting technology — for roughly $2 billion, while the cable television network remained with the consortium before being sold in 2018 to Byron Allen's Entertainment Studios (now Allen Media Group) for $300 million. In 2023, IBM agreed to sell the digital arm, The Weather Company, to private equity firm Francisco Partners, which completed the acquisition in early 2024, meaning the TV brand and digital brand now have separate corporate owners. A notable editorial controversy surrounds founder John Coleman, who became a prominent climate change denier after leaving the channel, calling global warming 'the greatest scam in history' — a position the channel itself explicitly rejected. Under Allen's ownership, The Weather Channel has maintained an active, editorially pro-science stance on climate change, producing dedicated climate coverage and programming. Since 2025, its reporting has regularly covered the Trump administration's steep cuts to NOAA and the National Weather Service — including the elimination of NOAA's climate research office and reductions in weather balloon launches — as threats to public safety and forecast accuracy, giving its coverage a critical orientation toward the administration's weather and climate policies.

Sources

  1. Comedian Byron Allen Buys the Weather Channel for $300 Million – Allen Media Group
  2. The Weather Company Sold to Private Equity Firm – Hollywood Reporter
  3. IBM Acquires The Weather Company's Product and Technology Businesses – TheWrap
  4. IBM Selling The Weather Channel and Rest of Its Weather Business – CNBC
  5. The Weather Company – Wikipedia
  6. Weather Channel Taking Active Climate Change Stance – Hollywood Reporter
  7. Trump Administration Pushes Ahead with NOAA Climate and Weather Cuts – Science/AAAS
  8. History of The Weather Channel – Wikipedia

Profile compiled 2026-08-15; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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