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ArtBest23
Joined: 02 Jul 2013
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 Posted: 12/01/16 9:56 am ::: Is ESPN giving up on its website coverage of WCBB? |
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ESPN'S women's basketball homepage has no articles about yesterday's games or the ACC-Big10 challenge, has one story about Texas posted yesterday, has a list of "headlines" from days or more ago like ND's power outage game and the commitments of Rennia Davis and Charlie Collier. As you scroll down the page the articles just get older and older. 2 or 3 days, then 6, 8, 10, 15, 22 . . . .etc
The "Summary" button on the scoreboard will sometimes link to an AP story on the game. Rarely any original content.
I know they had budget cuts and layoffs. If this is any indication, WCBB appears to have been a major victim.
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Conway Gamecock
Joined: 23 Jan 2015
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| Posted: 12/01/16 12:19 pm ::: |
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| ESPN is in trouble. You need to donate money to them, then sign up for an Insider account....
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myrtle
Joined: 02 May 2008
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| Posted: 12/01/16 12:29 pm ::: |
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| chicken and egg. Your coverage is bad so nobody looks at it, nobody looks at it so you think that's the place to make cuts, then even fewer people look at it so you feel justified.
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ArtBest23
Joined: 02 Jul 2013
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| Posted: 12/01/16 1:19 pm ::: |
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| Conway Gamecock wrote: |
| ESPN is in trouble. You need to donate money to them, then sign up for an Insider account.... |
ESPN isn't and won't be "in trouble" as long as they own the rights to all the most desirable sports content.
The means of delivery of that content may change from cable/satellite to internet, but he who owns the content rights is going to do just fine.
And it's very likely that producing online print content for WBB doesn't meet Disney's ROI requirements.
DirecTV rolled out its own streaming service DirecTV Now this week.
Eventually the internet is likely to become the single pipeline, but content owners are still going to charge you to watch no matter how you receive their signal. ESPN doesn't own competing pipelines, just content. They won't care how you watch. They'll still get paid.
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CBiebel
Joined: 23 Dec 2004
Posts: 1055
Location: PA
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| Posted: 12/01/16 2:28 pm ::: |
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| myrtle wrote: |
| chicken and egg. Your coverage is bad so nobody looks at it, nobody looks at it so you think that's the place to make cuts, then even fewer people look at it so you feel justified. |
Like with their message board system. They had arguably the best Women's Basketball message board out there (not flawless, but a lot of posters from many different schools at a "neutral" place).
Then for some stupid reason, they drop that and go with a "let's have discussions for just each game" that didn't allow for any cross pollination of posters.
Was it really that hard to maintain a single message board for a sport?
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linkster
Joined: 27 Jul 2012
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| Posted: 12/01/16 3:37 pm ::: |
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I constantly get annoyed by the sloppy way box scores are late or non-existent. And it's not just wcbb, it's also in baseball and football. Disney/ABC 's profits are down so they start cannibalizing their cash cow to keep the CEO's stock options valuable. It also looks like actual written articles are being substituted with Tweets.
Then I look at the extensive lineup of streamed wcbb games offered this year and realize that without ESPN we'd never see most teams.
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ArtBest23
Joined: 02 Jul 2013
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| Posted: 12/01/16 7:10 pm ::: |
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| linkster wrote: |
I constantly get annoyed by the sloppy way box scores are late or non-existent. And it's not just wcbb, it's also in baseball and football. Disney/ABC 's profits are down so they start cannibalizing their cash cow to keep the CEO's stock options valuable. It also looks like actual written articles are being substituted with Tweets.
Then I look at the extensive lineup of streamed wcbb games offered this year and realize that without ESPN we'd never see most teams. |
That's true. They're never going to show as many games on TV as they do the men, but there are a huge number of streaming games and in particular their deals with their dedicated SEC and ACC streaming channels are making nearly every game available, even if the production values are sometimes sketchy depending on the home school.
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Durantula
Joined: 30 Mar 2013
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| Posted: 12/01/16 9:08 pm ::: |
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| ArtBest23 wrote: |
| linkster wrote: |
I constantly get annoyed by the sloppy way box scores are late or non-existent. And it's not just wcbb, it's also in baseball and football. Disney/ABC 's profits are down so they start cannibalizing their cash cow to keep the CEO's stock options valuable. It also looks like actual written articles are being substituted with Tweets.
Then I look at the extensive lineup of streamed wcbb games offered this year and realize that without ESPN we'd never see most teams. |
That's true. They're never going to show as many games on TV as they do the men, but there are a huge number of streaming games and in particular their deals with their dedicated SEC and ACC streaming channels are making nearly every game available, even if the production values are sometimes sketchy depending on the home school. |
They won't show as many games as the men but the problem is they now show more HS boys basketball games than before and that cuts into the women's game. Tonight would have been an ideal double header on ESPN2. Texas-South Carolina and Maryland-Louisville. Put one at 7 and one at 9 instead you get some random Tennessee high school boy's basketball game after the SC-Texas game.
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ArtBest23
Joined: 02 Jul 2013
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| Posted: 12/01/16 10:24 pm ::: |
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| Durantula wrote: |
| ArtBest23 wrote: |
| linkster wrote: |
I constantly get annoyed by the sloppy way box scores are late or non-existent. And it's not just wcbb, it's also in baseball and football. Disney/ABC 's profits are down so they start cannibalizing their cash cow to keep the CEO's stock options valuable. It also looks like actual written articles are being substituted with Tweets.
Then I look at the extensive lineup of streamed wcbb games offered this year and realize that without ESPN we'd never see most teams. |
That's true. They're never going to show as many games on TV as they do the men, but there are a huge number of streaming games and in particular their deals with their dedicated SEC and ACC streaming channels are making nearly every game available, even if the production values are sometimes sketchy depending on the home school. |
They won't show as many games as the men but the problem is they now show more HS boys basketball games than before and that cuts into the women's game. Tonight would have been an ideal double header on ESPN2. Texas-South Carolina and Maryland-Louisville. Put one at 7 and one at 9 instead you get some random Tennessee high school boy's basketball game after the SC-Texas game. |
I didn't look to see who is on, but those games are typically not "random". They usually are showcasing one or two upcoming one-'n'-dones who have committed to KY or Duke or UNC
or such.
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SCGamecock
Joined: 31 May 2015
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| Posted: 12/02/16 9:20 am ::: |
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| ArtBest23 wrote: |
| Durantula wrote: |
| ArtBest23 wrote: |
| linkster wrote: |
I constantly get annoyed by the sloppy way box scores are late or non-existent. And it's not just wcbb, it's also in baseball and football. Disney/ABC 's profits are down so they start cannibalizing their cash cow to keep the CEO's stock options valuable. It also looks like actual written articles are being substituted with Tweets.
Then I look at the extensive lineup of streamed wcbb games offered this year and realize that without ESPN we'd never see most teams. |
That's true. They're never going to show as many games on TV as they do the men, but there are a huge number of streaming games and in particular their deals with their dedicated SEC and ACC streaming channels are making nearly every game available, even if the production values are sometimes sketchy depending on the home school. |
They won't show as many games as the men but the problem is they now show more HS boys basketball games than before and that cuts into the women's game. Tonight would have been an ideal double header on ESPN2. Texas-South Carolina and Maryland-Louisville. Put one at 7 and one at 9 instead you get some random Tennessee high school boy's basketball game after the SC-Texas game. |
I didn't look to see who is on, but those games are typically not "random". They usually are showcasing one or two upcoming one-'n'-dones who have committed to KY or Duke or UNC
or such. |
Exactly, last nights "random high school game" had several one n' dones... I still think another WCBB should've gone in that spot and the HSBB game go digital but then again, I'm in production... we leave the programming decisions up to those geniuses.
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ClayK
Joined: 11 Oct 2005
Posts: 11149
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| Posted: 12/02/16 10:55 am ::: |
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| SCGamecock wrote: |
| ArtBest23 wrote: |
| Durantula wrote: |
| ArtBest23 wrote: |
| linkster wrote: |
I constantly get annoyed by the sloppy way box scores are late or non-existent. And it's not just wcbb, it's also in baseball and football. Disney/ABC 's profits are down so they start cannibalizing their cash cow to keep the CEO's stock options valuable. It also looks like actual written articles are being substituted with Tweets.
Then I look at the extensive lineup of streamed wcbb games offered this year and realize that without ESPN we'd never see most teams. |
That's true. They're never going to show as many games on TV as they do the men, but there are a huge number of streaming games and in particular their deals with their dedicated SEC and ACC streaming channels are making nearly every game available, even if the production values are sometimes sketchy depending on the home school. |
They won't show as many games as the men but the problem is they now show more HS boys basketball games than before and that cuts into the women's game. Tonight would have been an ideal double header on ESPN2. Texas-South Carolina and Maryland-Louisville. Put one at 7 and one at 9 instead you get some random Tennessee high school boy's basketball game after the SC-Texas game. |
I didn't look to see who is on, but those games are typically not "random". They usually are showcasing one or two upcoming one-'n'-dones who have committed to KY or Duke or UNC
or such. |
Exactly, last nights "random high school game" had several one n' dones... I still think another WCBB should've gone in that spot and the HSBB game go digital but then again, I'm in production... we leave the programming decisions up to those geniuses. |
We can blame ESPN, but it's about the numbers. If more people watched women's basketball, there'd be more games on TV. The upsurge in high school boys' basketball tells me that more people watch those games than women's college games.
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ArtBest23
Joined: 02 Jul 2013
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| Posted: 12/02/16 11:27 am ::: |
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At least those boys HS games are live. I'm much more annoyed when there is a good game being played to see the BTN or whomever showing a "classic" MBB game from 2008 or a replay of some well-worn show about Iowa offensive linemen or some other canned program in that time slot.
Then it's not even a question of choosing between different live programming options. Then it's just a loud statement that we don't care enough about televising this WBB game that we'll just pull any old dusty tape off the shelf and cue it up instead. Heck if we didn't have this old film laying around, we rather just go dark for two hours than broadcast that WBB game.
And the BTN in particular does exactly that with great regularity. Which amazes me because I thought part of their charter was to promote their member schools' sports teams.
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LegoMyEggo
Joined: 02 Apr 2010
Posts: 284
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| Posted: 12/02/16 1:29 pm ::: |
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| ESPN has lost over a millions subscribers in the last few months. They actually are in trouble and women's basketball is an easy place to reduce staff.
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root_thing
Joined: 28 Apr 2007
Posts: 7365
Location: Underground
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| Posted: 12/02/16 2:41 pm ::: |
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| NHL coverage is also greatly reduced. ESPN NY used to have beat writers who provided hockey features on a daily basis. Now, it's only coverage of the actual game or an occasional preview. On off-days, there's nothing.
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shadowboxer
Joined: 18 Jul 2008
Posts: 2126
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| Posted: 12/03/16 2:43 pm ::: |
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Don't know how much this is trend elsewhere, but in our area we have 2 local cable channels(same owner) devoted to sports. Full live games of gbb, our local JCCWBB team, and now our NAIA WBB team games as well, when they are home. Repeats of all cited, the typical Game Day reviews, some periodic specials on our 2 local D1 WBB teams, and highlights.
Have occasional cable replays of full D1 WBB games, w/game time blackout of home games to encourage attendance, ESPN3 game coverage, and/or live streaming via our University system or that from the away team they are playing. There will be some (7 altogether, I think) regular season conference games on ESPN2, 2 different cable networks, etc... including Tournament coverage on variety of TV/streaming outlets.
As MidMajor Conf., no one station like BIG10, SEC, PAC etc.. devoted to college athletic games.
Still, no comparison to degree of male-dominated games shown/available.
Have to think these type of emerging options(for most schools/areas) cuts into ESPN's ultimate bottom line.
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Queenie
Joined: 18 Nov 2004
Posts: 18031
Location: Queens
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| Posted: 12/03/16 5:25 pm ::: |
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| What irks me is when even schools with ESPN3 content arrangements don't get website coverage. The St. John's game is over, but you'd never know from the scoreboard that it even started- and we have an ESPN3 stream.
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GlennMacGrady
Joined: 03 Jan 2005
Posts: 8227
Location: Heisenberg
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| Posted: 12/03/16 6:58 pm ::: |
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ESPN has lost an average of 20,000 TV subscribers per day over the last two months. And if you're not a TV subscriber I don't know that you can get the videostream service, which seems to change names.
http://www.outkickthecoverage.com/espn-loses-another-555-000-subscribers-per-nielsen-112916
The ESPNW website has always been mediocre. The now defunct discussion forums were popular for some sports, but technically and feature-wise they were clunky if not medieval. |
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tfan
Joined: 31 May 2010
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| Posted: 12/03/16 8:07 pm ::: |
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| I saw those articles about ESPN losing subscribers. But with Comcast, ESPN/ESPN2 is part of the basic cable package. In order to drop ESPN you would have to drop all the other basic cable stations - TBS, TNT, Bravo, Lifetime, TLC, Food Network, etc. Where can you just drop ESPN?
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pilight
Joined: 23 Sep 2004
Posts: 66920
Location: Where the action is
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| Posted: 12/03/16 8:09 pm ::: |
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| tfan wrote: |
| I saw those articles about ESPN losing subscribers. But with Comcast, ESPN/ESPN2 is part of the basic cable package. In order to drop ESPN you would have to drop all the other basic cable stations - TBS, TNT, Bravo, Lifetime, TLC, Food Network, etc. Where can you just drop ESPN? |
Lots of people are cord cutting
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ArtBest23
Joined: 02 Jul 2013
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| Posted: 12/03/16 11:28 pm ::: |
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| pilight wrote: |
| tfan wrote: |
| I saw those articles about ESPN losing subscribers. But with Comcast, ESPN/ESPN2 is part of the basic cable package. In order to drop ESPN you would have to drop all the other basic cable stations - TBS, TNT, Bravo, Lifetime, TLC, Food Network, etc. Where can you just drop ESPN? |
Lots of people are cord cutting |
But then lots are picking up streaming packages like Hulu or the new DirecTV Now, or Sling or whatever, and they're going to end up paying for ESPN that way instead.
Just because people start getting their TV via the internet rather than via cable doesn't mean they won't be paying for ESPN.
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pilight
Joined: 23 Sep 2004
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Location: Where the action is
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| Posted: 12/04/16 12:07 am ::: |
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| ArtBest23 wrote: |
| pilight wrote: |
| tfan wrote: |
| I saw those articles about ESPN losing subscribers. But with Comcast, ESPN/ESPN2 is part of the basic cable package. In order to drop ESPN you would have to drop all the other basic cable stations - TBS, TNT, Bravo, Lifetime, TLC, Food Network, etc. Where can you just drop ESPN? |
Lots of people are cord cutting |
But then lots are picking up streaming packages like Hulu or the new DirecTV Now, or Sling or whatever, and they're going to end up paying for ESPN that way instead.
Just because people start getting their TV via the internet rather than via cable doesn't mean they won't be paying for ESPN. |
Most people who have ESPN on their cable don't watch it. It's bundled in. When they leave cable, they won't be signing up for ESPN on alternate distribution.
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tfan
Joined: 31 May 2010
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| Posted: 12/04/16 1:42 am ::: |
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| pilight wrote: |
| tfan wrote: |
| I saw those articles about ESPN losing subscribers. But with Comcast, ESPN/ESPN2 is part of the basic cable package. In order to drop ESPN you would have to drop all the other basic cable stations - TBS, TNT, Bravo, Lifetime, TLC, Food Network, etc. Where can you just drop ESPN? |
Lots of people are cord cutting |
But then I think it should become "basic cable hetworks are losing subscribers" not just ESPN.
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ArtBest23
Joined: 02 Jul 2013
Posts: 14550
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| Posted: 12/04/16 9:10 am ::: |
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| pilight wrote: |
| ArtBest23 wrote: |
| pilight wrote: |
| tfan wrote: |
| I saw those articles about ESPN losing subscribers. But with Comcast, ESPN/ESPN2 is part of the basic cable package. In order to drop ESPN you would have to drop all the other basic cable stations - TBS, TNT, Bravo, Lifetime, TLC, Food Network, etc. Where can you just drop ESPN? |
Lots of people are cord cutting |
But then lots are picking up streaming packages like Hulu or the new DirecTV Now, or Sling or whatever, and they're going to end up paying for ESPN that way instead.
Just because people start getting their TV via the internet rather than via cable doesn't mean they won't be paying for ESPN. |
Most people who have ESPN on their cable don't watch it. It's bundled in. When they leave cable, they won't be signing up for ESPN on alternate distribution. |
These internet providers bundle too. They're not selling ala carte choices. Even the most basic DirecTV Now package, for example, includes ESPN and ESPN2.
And saying "most" people don't watch ESPN is, I believe, a huge exaggeration. Live sports have been indeed one of, if not the biggest, deterrent to cord cutting because until recently you couldn't buy streaming access.
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ArtBest23
Joined: 02 Jul 2013
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| Posted: 12/04/16 9:13 am ::: |
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| tfan wrote: |
| pilight wrote: |
| tfan wrote: |
| I saw those articles about ESPN losing subscribers. But with Comcast, ESPN/ESPN2 is part of the basic cable package. In order to drop ESPN you would have to drop all the other basic cable stations - TBS, TNT, Bravo, Lifetime, TLC, Food Network, etc. Where can you just drop ESPN? |
Lots of people are cord cutting |
But then I think it should become "basic cable hetworks are losing subscribers" not just ESPN. |
And it should be that cable pipeline providers are losing subscribers, because these "cord cutting" numbers aren't counting the number of people who turn around and subscribe to the same basic cable networks via an alternative streaming provider.
And with the rash of new internet based sources in just the last few months, that number is likely to become even more significant quickly. Hulu and Amazon have both said they're planning on adding their own live sports, by the way.
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purduefanatic
Joined: 10 Aug 2011
Posts: 2819
Location: Indiana
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| Posted: 12/04/16 11:34 am ::: |
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| I wish I knew more about cord cutting. I have DirecTV and I feel like my bill never stops increasing.
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