# Fox sports channels and FX dropped from Dish Network



## Malcontent (Sep 5, 2004)

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/ent...hannels-and-fx-dropped-from-dish-network.html


> In an increasingly contentious battle over price hikes, News Corp.'s Fox pulled several of its cable channels -- including 19 regional sports channels -- from satellite broadcaster Dish Networks early Friday morning.
> 
> The channels included in the blackout were FX, National Geographic Channel and such popular regional sports outlets as Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket, two channels that are scheduled to broadcast this weekend's season-ending games of the Los Angeles Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers.
> 
> The Fox broadcast network, local Fox television stations and the Fox News Channel were not part of the contract being negotiated, and remain available to Dish's 14.3 million customers.


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## Snappa77 (Feb 14, 2004)

FX too?

ouch. Alot of Sons Of Anarchy fans are gonna be VERY upset.


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## marksman (Mar 4, 2002)

FX and National Geographic are two of my favorite channels. Glad I have directv, which fox used to own and still has a strong influence.


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## robojerk (Jun 13, 2006)

http://money.cnn.com/2010/10/01/technology/dish_fox_sports/


> Fox is demanding a new contract with an unprecedented rate increase of more than 50%," said Dish, in a press release Friday.
> 
> A source at Fox, who asked not to be named, referred to the 50% increase as "gross overstatement" on the part of Dish.


I'm not a Dish subscriber, but Time Warner just went through something similar with ABC/ESPN. I wish the cable co's and content providers (Networks) were required to provide transparency on these contracts. I'm sure it would make us, the consumers completely baffled. As cable/satellite gets more expensive, it just make more of an argument why we should just stream via the internet (as long as net neutrality stands) and not have to pay ridiculous prices just for TV.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Interesting timing on the part of FOX. They pulled their shows right after their Thursday night original programming aired on FX (don't want to hurt the ratings for those shows) but right before some big baseball and college football games are scheduled to air (maximum outrage from subscribers).


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## JLucPicard (Jul 8, 2004)

DevdogAZ said:


> Interesting timing on the part of FOX. They pulled their shows right after their Thursday night original programming aired on FX (don't want to hurt the ratings for those shows) but right before some big baseball and college football games are scheduled to air (maximum outrage from subscribers).


Could it have been that their (then) current contract ran through September 30th?


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## terpfan1980 (Jan 28, 2002)

FOX had been running ads for about 2 weeks (heh, I know many people never see such things, but as I still catch a lot of stuff "live" and/or don't necessarily take time to forward through the commercials, I see such things...) hinting/threatening on the issue with Dish so it should have come as no real surprise, and given Dish's previous history with such negotiations, it really should come as no surprise at all.

I can't say for sure which company is to blame, but (again, with their history) I wouldn't count on this getting resolved soon (as Dish has been known to abuse their customers in such areas pretty willingly...)


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## jsmeeker (Apr 2, 2001)

Every company that provides cable, satellite, FIOS, etc. TV service goes through this sort of thing with the various netowrk/channel owners. No one carrier is immune. Who is to blame? Both of the parties. It's nothing more than a pissing contest between two large corporations. They are all the same. Dish, TimeWarner, DirecTV, ABC, Fox, whatever. Doesn't matter.


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## SorenTodd (May 26, 2009)

> Every company that provides cable, satellite, FIOS, etc. TV service goes through this sort of thing with the various network/channel owners.


I have yet to lose a channel with Verizon FiOS, and I've been with them for two years now. And seeing all the crap that goes on with Dish, Direct, and Time Warner makes me realize that I made a wise choice of providers.

Anyways, even though the legacy of "Cheap Charlie" Ergen (Dish CEO) is well known around the internet, I'm hearing that FOX / News Corp is the "bad boy" in this dispute. Why does that not surprise me?

So if ever a "Burn in Hell, FOX" comment is warranted, it's in this situation.


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## jsmeeker (Apr 2, 2001)

SorenTodd said:


> I have yet to lose a channel with Verizon FiOS, and I've been with them for two years now. And seeing all the crap that goes on with Dish, Direct, and Time Warner makes me realize that I made a wise choice of providers.
> 
> Anyways, even though the legacy of "Cheap Charlie" Ergen (Dish CEO) is well known around the internet, I'm hearing that FOX / News Corp is the "bad boy" in this dispute. Why does that not surprise me?
> 
> So if ever a "Burn in Hell, FOX" comment is warranted, it's in this situation.


You may not have lost one (yet), but the pissing contests certainly go on and will continue to go on..

You'll see. Just wait.


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## Enrique (May 15, 2006)

jsmeeker said:


> Every company that provides cable, satellite, FIOS, etc. TV service goes through this sort of thing with the various netowrk/channel owners. No one carrier is immune. Who is to blame? Both of the parties. It's nothing more than a pissing contest between two large corporations. They are all the same. Dish, TimeWarner, DirecTV, ABC, Fox, whatever. Doesn't matter.


If you look at all the cable companies you named and their past with contract disputes you'll see that Dish is leading the pack. So no it's not all the same, not even close.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

jsmeeker said:


> You may not have lost one (yet), but the pissing contests certainly go on and will continue to go on..
> 
> You'll see. Just wait.


I think it all depends on when contracts expire relative to other carriers. Seems that the networks decide to play hardball with the big carriers (DirecTV, Dish, Comcast, TimeWarner) when those contracts come due, and then all the smaller providers fall in line with what was decided once their contracts expire. So as long as a provider like Verizon FIOS (or my provider, Cox Communications) doesn't have the first expiring contract with whatever network wants to raise its rates, then they're unlikely to ever be caught in this mess.


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## jsmeeker (Apr 2, 2001)

Enrique said:


> If you look at all the cable companies you named and their past with contract disputes you'll see that Dish is leading the pack. So no it's not all the same, not even close.


I've certainly witnessed spats with Time Warner and Comcast and various people. Hell, I STILL don't have NFL Network anymore. And probably won't ever get it.



DevdogAZ said:


> I think it all depends on when contracts expire relative to other carriers. Seems that the networks decide to play hardball with the big carriers (DirecTV, Dish, Comcast, TimeWarner) when those contracts come due, and then all the smaller providers fall in line with what was decided once their contracts expire. So as long as a provider like Verizon FIOS (or my provider, Cox Communications) doesn't have the first expiring contract with whatever network wants to raise its rates, then they're unlikely to ever be caught in this mess.


Sure. Everyone has contracts coming to an end at at different time. But they all do come to an end at some point. And when they do, it's not unusual for the re-negotiations to get ugly.


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## marksman (Mar 4, 2002)

It does seem to me that dish leads the league in most channel hours lost to disputes with providers.


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## jsmeeker (Apr 2, 2001)

marksman said:


> It does seem to me that dish leads the league in most channel hours lost to disputes with providers.


Maybe they are, but unless you get your stuff OTA only, no one should be so nieve to think that they made a "superior" choice and are totally immune to this. You aren't. One day, your provider will get into a spat. May not turn into actually losing a channel. But there will be an issue with threats to drop channels. And both sides will blame eachother. And neither will give two *****s about you.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

We don't get Fox Sports, either (Mediacom). It drives my husband absolutely batty because he's a HUGE St. Louis Cardinals fan, and would love to watch the games.

We're even thinking of moving to DirectTV just because of that, if we could just figure out how to get internet in this tiny town as well.


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## gastrof (Oct 31, 2003)

I wonder if DISH gives customers a lower rate when they start carrying fewer channels.


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## marksman (Mar 4, 2002)

gastrof said:


> I wonder if DISH gives customers a lower rate when they start carrying fewer channels.


I was wondering about that too. If you are missing some channels now, do they give you a discount of a few dollars on your bill for that month?

Something tells me no. The best thing would be for ala carte pricing for all these systems and expose all these channels to the free market of the individual viewer. It would certainly shake up the cable/satellite world as some channels would cease to exist... but others would thrive and new ones might be given the opportunity to sprout up as well.

Of course it is not in the best interests of the content providers or the service providers, and only the consumers, so such a thing might take a bigger force to come about. I like the marketplace to work itself out, but sometimes when a industry conspires to do what is not in the best interest of the consumer across the board, something has to be done.

I watch ESPN and would pay for it, other people would not pay the likely $5-$10 a month it would cost to get the ESPN channels. Yet they now pay for them, in most configurations regardless if they watch them or not.

Ala carte programming would give us the audience some real power and control over what is on tv, and of course we can not have that.


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## bengalfreak (Oct 20, 2002)

I can't remember ever losing a channel on DirecTV. I could care less about the pissing matches, as long as my service isn't interrupted.


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## Ment (Mar 27, 2008)

gastrof said:


> I wonder if DISH gives customers a lower rate when they start carrying fewer channels.


If you complain about not being able to see your absent favorite channel, they will frequently give you an extra like a PPV movies. Not sure what DirectTV did during their carriage dispute with Versus but I'm sure it was similar.


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## RayChuang88 (Sep 5, 2002)

marksman said:


> It does seem to me that dish leads the league in most channel hours lost to disputes with providers.


And to think I almost went with Dish Network years ago. Thank G** I didn't, and now enjoy Comcast's _Xfinity_ Digital Preferred service (they guaranteed the rate for a full year) with all the SD and HD channels I want. :up:


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## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

bengalfreak said:


> I can't remember ever losing a channel on DirecTV. I could care less about the pissing matches, as long as my service isn't interrupted.


Versus was the most recent channel pulled from DirecTV over a carriage contract dispute.

I also remember a couple of disputes with ABC Disney and DirecTV that came down to the wire, but didn't actually end up with channels pulled. It could have easily happened, though. The most recent I can find was 2003, and before that in 1999.


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## WhiskeyTango (Sep 20, 2006)

terpfan1980 said:


> FOX had been running ads for about 2 weeks (heh, I know many people never see such things, but as I still catch a lot of stuff "live" and/or don't necessarily take time to forward through the commercials, I see such things...) hinting/threatening on the issue with Dish so it should have come as no real surprise, and given Dish's previous history with such negotiations, it really should come as no surprise at all.
> 
> I can't say for sure which company is to blame, but (again, with their history) I wouldn't count on this getting resolved soon (as Dish has been known to abuse their customers in such areas pretty willingly...)


I just saw one of these ads last night. It just says that Dish dropped FX and Nat Geo and says 'what good is an empty Dish', then shows Comcast, Fios, and DirecTv as carriers that do have these channels. Basically telling Dish customers to drop them and go to someone else.


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## The Spud (Aug 28, 2002)

gastrof said:


> I wonder if DISH gives customers a lower rate when they start carrying fewer channels.


A couple of years ago DISH and the local ABC affiliate couldn't come to agreement and I seem to remember that DISH offered their subscribers a $5 credit. I don't know if it was a one time credit or a monthly credit for the duration of the dispute.


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## sieglinde (Aug 11, 2002)

Mediacom is still not carrying National Geographic Wild and is carrying the defunct Reality channel instead. Weird that stuff is still being broadcast on it.


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## Jayjoans (Jan 23, 2003)

bengalfreak said:


> I can't remember ever losing a channel on DirecTV. I could*'NT* care less about the pissing matches, as long as my service isn't interrupted.


FYP


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## type_g (Sep 9, 2002)

i just downgraded my programming cause i watched lots of FX and FOX SPORTS AZ, and cause of this they wanted to charge $5 to downgrade. They waived it after little arguing, hopefully it gets resolved but I refuse to pay more if the channels i want are not there.


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## robojerk (Jun 13, 2006)

What percentage is Dish's market share compared to other cable co's? Do they mess with them so much because their tiny compared to their competition?


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

Here in NYC, it appears that Dish is dropping the MSG family of networks as well (owned by Cablevision). They STILL don't have YES network (which was the reason I switched to DirecTV in the first place). I just don't think DISH values sports very much, but on the other hand they have way more movie channels than DirecTV.

Also here in NYC, the local Fox channel (owned by News Corp) has been showing ads that they are in dispute with Cablevision and it will be dropped ( forget the date, might be today). The ad is interesting is they mention how Fox was always given to CV for free yet, it's "in a package" that they charge $17 a month for....as if, you the consumer, is getting is getting screwed. What they FAIL to mention is that they want to charge CV for the privilege of carrying the channel, well within their rights of course, but it is interesting that they left that tidbit out.

Of course, we, the consumer is the one that always gets screwed in these things. Either with higher rates or loss of channel.


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## Adam1115 (Dec 15, 2003)

jsmeeker said:


> Every company that provides cable, satellite, FIOS, etc. TV service goes through this sort of thing with the various netowrk/channel owners. No one carrier is immune. Who is to blame? Both of the parties. It's nothing more than a pissing contest between two large corporations. They are all the same. Dish, TimeWarner, DirecTV, ABC, Fox, whatever. Doesn't matter.


True, but Dish is WAY more aggressive with this stuff than the other providers. I've NEVER lost a station on DirecTV, but boy do I remember the Viacom dispute with Dish...

Fox is saying they are going to pull O&O Locals next. That will cause some people to leave.


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## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

Adam1115 said:


> True, but Dish is WAY more aggressive with this stuff than the other providers. I've NEVER lost a station on DirecTV, but boy do I remember the Viacom dispute with Dish...


You lost Versus to a contract dispute. Might not be a channel you watch, but it was definitely a channel pulled from DirecTV over carriage rights.


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## martinp13 (Mar 19, 2001)

gastrof said:


> I wonder if DISH gives customers a lower rate when they start carrying fewer channels.


Dish is providing about 20 extra channels (many of them regional sports channels) during this period.

What sux for me is that I'm not a Dish subscriber: my apartment's "forced" cable company repackages Dish. So Dish says "the extra programming is on Dish channels 9650-9680", but my cable channels are 2 to 99 or so. During this crap I lose the FOX channels and get nothing back.


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## bruab (Nov 16, 2001)

sieglinde said:


> Mediacom is still not carrying National Geographic Wild and is carrying the defunct Reality channel instead. Weird that stuff is still being broadcast on it.


So Fox Reality Channel was cancelled last March, but some cable providers are still showing it? How does that work?


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## Adam1115 (Dec 15, 2003)

martinp13 said:


> Dish is providing about 20 extra channels (many of them regional sports channels) during this period.


Well, only to people who don't already get those 20 channels...


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

bruab said:


> So Fox Reality Channel was cancelled last March, but some cable providers are still showing it? How does that work?


How is that possible? Fox Reality no longer exists. Fox disbanded the channel completely.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Here in Arizona (and I assume elsewhere), DirecTV and Cox are running ads promoting the website Get What I Paid For.com trying to get Dish customers to dump their contracts and go with one of the alternatives. The ads are saying that if the dispute isn't resolved by November 1, then Dish customers will lose the FOX broadcast network as well.


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## SorenTodd (May 26, 2009)

DevdogAZ said:


> Here in Arizona (and I assume elsewhere), DirecTV and Cox are running ads promoting the website Get What I Paid For.com trying to get Dish customers to dump their contracts and go with one of the alternatives. The ads are saying that if the dispute isn't resolved by November 1, then Dish customers will lose the FOX broadcast network as well.


Yupp, KSAZ-10 is now a FOX O&O.

This mess is getting a lot of attention over in dbstalk.com, I'll C&P one of the sports posts I made:
--------------------------
Now, of course I'm only speaking of my local market, where the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Cowboys are both hugely popular.
Exactly. Certain markets are much more passionate about local sports than others.

Case in point, the Los Angeles DMA (which is very satt dish friendly, because of good weather). The Lakers' season kicks off on the 26th, with their first game on Fox Sports West on the 31st. If this dispute isn't resolved by then, it could get ugly.

Also, the Phoenix Suns (another good weather city and popular local team) have their first game on FSN-AZ on the 29th.

The only saving grace in those two DMA's is that about half of the NBA games are available on local over-the-air TV. However, this is a rarity in today's NBA television world.
--------------------------

I just realized that Phoenix will also lose My45, since that station is also a FOX O&O. Suns fans stand to be screwed six ways to Sunday (if they have Dish).


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

It's not just the Suns. If you live in AZ, have Dish and are a sports fan, you're totally hosed. FSNAZ has contracts with the Suns, D'Backs, Coyotes and the Pac-10 has a contract with Fox Sports, which means most Sun Devils football games are on FSNAZ as well. And as you mentioned, the Suns contract is split between FSNAZ and the local MyNetwork affiliate, both of which are soon to be lost from the Dish lineup. If this isn't worked out, the only Suns games that will be available to Dish viewers are those on ESPN/ABC or TNT. I'm guessing that will be less than 10 out of 82 games this season.


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## dumluk2002 (Oct 17, 2010)

I believe Dish does not carry the MLB Network because they require it to be as part of a regular tier which would add to overall costs...........now I am a fan of MLB and would love this channel, but Dish's relavent argument is why should someone who does not WANT the channel to forced to pay for that? Not sure how to reconcile this really.

I do not watch MOST of the channels on Dish yet I pay for them. I am sure many of us are in this boat. 

Long story short, LETS GET THIS FIXED


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## super dave (Oct 1, 2002)

FX and NG are back, Fox and Dish have come to an agreement.

http://dish.client.shareholder.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=525025

DISH Network and Fox Networks Reach Comprehensive Programming Agreement
Viewers Ensured Continued Fox Broadcasting and Fox Television Stations Programming in Major Cities

FX, National Geographic Channel, and Fox's 19 Regional Sports Networks Immediately Restored to DISH Network Lineup

LOS ANGELES and ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Oct 29, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX News Network/ -- DISH Network L.L.C., a subsidiary of DISH Network Corporation (Nasdaq: DISH) and Fox Networks, an operating unit of News Corporation (Nasdaq: NWS), today announced a wide-ranging distribution agreement to provide the third-largest video distributor in the United States with continued access to programming from Fox Broadcasting and Fox local television stations in major cities. The agreement also included carriage of FX, National Geographic Channel, and Fox's 19 regional sports networks, which were restored for DISH Network viewers Friday.


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## Michael S (Jan 12, 2004)

LoadStar said:


> You lost Versus to a contract dispute. Might not be a channel you watch, but it was definitely a channel pulled from DirecTV over carriage rights.


Don't worry Directv isn't going to be left out of this holdout fun. Because they might be losing another Comcast channel. This time its G4 that might be gone by Nov 1.


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## terpfan1980 (Jan 28, 2002)

Michael S said:


> Don't worry Directv isn't going to be left out of this holdout fun. Because they might be losing another Comcast channel. This time its G4 that might be gone by Nov 1.


Yeah, but would anyone notice?


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## Enrique (May 15, 2006)

Michael S said:


> Don't worry Directv isn't going to be left out of this holdout fun. Because they might be losing another Comcast channel. This time its G4 that might be gone by Nov 1.


Well they're not losing it, they're dropping it because it's a piece of crap network.


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## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

Michael S said:


> Don't worry Directv isn't going to be left out of this holdout fun. Because they might be losing another Comcast channel. This time its G4 that might be gone by Nov 1.


...and nothing of value was lost.


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## MikeAndrews (Jan 17, 2002)

Michael S said:


> Don't worry Directv isn't going to be left out of this holdout fun. Because they might be losing another Comcast channel. This time its G4 that might be gone by Nov 1.





Enrique said:


> Well they're not losing it, they're dropping it because it's a piece of crap network.





LoadStar said:


> ...and nothing of value was lost.


Great. Will the Comcast execs who bought TechTV for the carriage and then gutted it into G4 - because you know, kids who are not watching TV because they're playing video games will stop playing and watch TV about video games - get another big bonus for the way it turned out?

In other news Comcast announced that it lost over 250,000 subscribers. They claim its not because of the high rates, it's the economy.


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## tiellv (Nov 11, 2002)

super dave said:


> FX and NG are back, Fox and Dish have come to an agreement.


To show how much TV I've been watching lately... I didn't even know they were gone!


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## Michael S (Jan 12, 2004)

LoadStar said:


> ...and nothing of value was lost.


Well Dish could lose more stations anyway.  Because my local CBS station a Belo station had a crawl tonight saying that Dish network customers could lose the station on Oct 31.


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