• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, June 17, 2008

Well, that's what you might take away from the comments of Joe Fiveash, general manager of The Weather Channel Interactive, and a cable TV originated brand that you'd think would embrace Canoe Ventures, the new cable industry initiative being headed by former Carat CEO David Verklin. As it turns out, The Weather Channel might not be so keen on paddling along with Canoe.

“I am not going to offer much insight on Canoe. I'm on the interactive side,” Fiveash conceded, comparing Canoe to “a TV version of an ad network.”

Right now, he said, that's an anathema for TV network brands like The Weather Channel â€" at least online.

“Ad networks in the online space, we've never used,” Fiveash revealed. “And I know it's gotten to be a real hot topic these days. We've never used them. We have remnant inventory like everybody else, but we sell it ourselves. We've found that nobody else can sell it as well as we can ourselves.”