Weather Channel Acquires Weather Underground

The Weather Channel Companies is acquiring rival Weather Underground, the New York Times reports.

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The Weather Channel's Weather.com, is the most-visited weather website in the U.S, yet Weather Underground, aka Wunderground.com, remains a cult competitor with a devoted readership and 10 million unique visitors per month; the sites underneath the Weather Channel umbrella, including Weather.com, attract some 50 million monthly visitors.

David Kenny, chairman and CEO of the Weather Channel Companies, said in an interview with the Times that he admires Weather Underground's "hard-core audience," some of whom view Weather Channel as too advertising-dependent.

No details on the price of purchase were given. The deal, expected to be finished in the coming weeks, was announced Monday. Weather Channel is owned by Bain Capital, the Blackstone Group and Comcast.

The indie vibe of Weather Underground, meanwhile, is expected to remain intact: according to Kenny, the site would be its own entity while offering use of its data for Weather Channel forecasts.

"Weather Underground users can expect to see more of the same," said Weather Underground president Alan Steremberg. "But we'll have a lot more resources to do fun things."