60 Years of QLD TV

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Thursday, November 21, 2024

Kuttsy's Pitch X-Two

The Pitch is Back.

23 years to the date: a TV newsroom in Townsville found out their bulletin would be made history and ultimately put on the ultimate signoff as local loyalty was flushed down the toilet in favour of noodle updates from Canberra, a messy product from Brisbane and more noodle updates this time from Tasmania. All this while, what ultimately became the only QLD-produced and presented regional news service continues to be dominant (which began when it swooped in to Townsville and Cairns 20yrs ago to add to their thriving heritage products in the Wide Bay, Sunshine Coast and Mackay), and misinformation and a botched move by a metropolitan station concerning local news is now bleeding that same regional station that cut their FNQ links in 2001 dry.

Today is November 21, 2024.

This is Kuttsy’s Pitch X-2.
Twenty years ago: the combined population of the Townsville and Cairns television markets had only just scratched over 400,000 people. And yet, it could support two proper locally sourced news services: WIN’s, presented in Rockhampton, and Seven’s produced in Maroochydore.

Today: The combined population of those same two markets… is now punching well above 500,000 people (and as a QLD media market it would rank third behind the Gold Coast (which has less commercial radio stations than Cairns and Townsville and the uniquity of having access to Northern NSW regional television broadcasts) and state capital Brisbane). The only locally sourced and presented news service for these markets at the top of Queensland: Seven’s still produced in Maroochydore, while WIN cost cut too many times (ultimately ending QLD-based news presentation entirely) and the onetime local station to the NQ market is absent entirely: pumping out noodle updates from Tasmania.

Which brings us to the first point that must be acted upon with urgency: mandating additional local news services to specific markets.

Our belief is that any submarket/combined submarkets with a population over 500,000 people must have three commercial television news services: with a minimum of one of those commercial television news services being produced and presented within the submarket/s concerned, with a optional requirement for a comprehensive news service (i.e. national/world news integrated into the local bulletin) for any bulletin produced and presented within the submarket/s.

These markets where such regulations must take effect first are:
-Cairns/Townsville, QLD.
-Gold Coast QLD/Northern Rivers, NSW.
-Newcastle/Central Coast/Hunter, NSW.
-Wollongong/South Coast, NSW.
-Canberra, ACT (and surrounding districts in NSW).

The Newcastle/Central Coast/Hunter and Wollongong/South Coast markets already fulfil the 1/3 must be produced/presented in the submarket quota (due to long-term bulletins on heritage stations) and require two new news services. The Gold Coast/Northern Rivers market requires a news service produced/presented locally, while Cairns/Townsville and Canberra will need significant investment.

In addition, long-term planning must be done to introduce the three commercial television news service (with one must be produced/presented locally) requirements when the time comes into:
-Mackay/Rockhampton, QLD.
-SEQ surrounds (Toowoomba, Wide Bay and Sunshine Coast), QLD.
-Orange/Wagga Wagga/Dubbo, NSW (incorporating the solus market in Griffith NSW).
-Albury/Shepparton/Ballarat/Bendigo VIC (incorporating the solus markets in Mildura VIC, and potentially Mt Gambier/Riverland in SA)
-The entire Tasmania television market.
-The entire regional Western Australia television market.

The next thing that needs to be looked at: is how regional news is actually regulated.

We believe that the current points system (developed twenty years ago) and how it works has outlived it’s usefulness in a digital age.

The system is great: but is very secretive in how it operates. The breach in 2023 by Seven in Mildura gave us a peek behind the curtain as how the compliance for regional news regulations currently work: six week periods throughout the year, starting on a specific date every year.
Such a model does not encourage broadcasters to invest in news programming or make additional content outside what is required (720pts of local content per 6 week period and 900pts of local content per 6 week period post-trigger event: e.g station acquisition)

We believe that a fairer system is to move toward a dynamic points system for local news (likely to be trialled initially in the markets getting 3/1 (three news bulletins/one locally produced) regulations) that each licensee has a baseline minimum of 30 points a day to allocate: nine points higher than the current average of the trigger event 6 week minimum: 21 points a day.) that is constantly monitored throughout the year, and can also be publicly available for viewers to peruse.

How our points system would work: 
-A news update would only earn 1pt no matter how long it aired for.
-A news bulletin would earn at different rates, depending on both it’s composition and it’s timing:
-For example: locally sourced news (part of a dedicated bulletin for the submarket) would earn 1pt per minute if it aired outside the 6-8pm timeslot, but would earn 2pts per minute if it aired within the 6-8pm timeslot.
-Meanwhile: composite news (a bulletin consisting of news from around the submarket and other submarkets) would earn only 1/ 2 a point per minute if it aired outside the 6-8pm timeslot, and only 1 point per minute if aired within the 6-8pm timeslot.

The bonuses for 6-8pm are designed to encourage metropolitan stations to give regional outlets freedom to present news within the 6pm-7pm hour, if it means that their existing news services aren’t being relayed in full to regional areas.

We also believe that in a dynamic points environment, that there also needs to be a clear definition of what output should be counted as news and whether it impacts a regional licensee’s obligations concerning local news.

This system is basically, dividing news output into a three party system.

First-party news is supplied by the regional station themselves (e.g. Seven’s regional news output, Southern Cross’s Tasmanian news service, and updates for 10 affiliates, NBN News and WIN News (inc. updates in Northern NSW)

Second-party news is supplied by the regional station’s affiliate partner (Seven News, Nine News, 10 News First) and nominally consists of metropolitan news, generic state news and national/overseas stories, that the affiliate cannot provide itself as a first party.

And, finally: third-party news: news supplied by a organization that isn’t the regional station themselves or their affiliate partner (e.g. Sky News Regional on SCA (QLD, Southern NSW and Victoria) and WIN (Northern NSW) in aggregated Australia)

We believe if a station has insufficient second party news (e.g. until September this year there had been no standalone NSW-presented and QLD-presented news on 10 affiliates since September 2020) and relies on a third party to fill the gap as a result: first party news quotas should be doubled: that is, a baseline minimum of 60pts a day for stations fulfilling the criteria (which would most likely be the 10 affiliates in the Southern NSW, Northern NSW and Queensland aggregated markets), and if a station has sound second party news, and relies on a third party to fill some gaps (i.e. the 10 affiliate in the Victorian market) first party news quotas would be increased by 1.5: that is a baseline minimum of 45pts a day for stations fulfilling the criteria.

24/7.

“There wouldn’t be a Kuttsy’s Pitch without some sort of content survey: there’d be no Content Survey Live without Kuttsy’s Pitch.”

I took the challenge on July 24, 2024 i.e. 24/7/24 (just past the tenth anniversary of our first content survey happening that became part of Kuttsy’s Pitch VI) to survey all seven local news services produced by Seven in regional QLD over not one week… but one day.


To paraphrase what I mean by QLD submarkets, here's a description above from the ACMA website, note that Seven QLD isn't required to cover the Capricornia (Central QLD) and Darling Downs submarkets) for quota purposes.

The conditions we set for ourselves were basic:
-Intros don’t count.
-All local stories must be timed.
-Sport/weather is excluded (because it is consistently a local product)
-Points must be judged on current ACMA standards for the STQ licence (1 point for each minute of: news that ‘directly relates to the licence area’, and because the STQ licence was affected by the Seven/Prime transaction of late 2022 (as a trigger event), 3 points for each minute of news that depicts people, places or things in the local area.)

We begin: with our home market, the Wide Bay.

Screenshot of the opener, of Seven News Wide Bay, 24/7/24.

A big news day, for the Wide Bay on July 24: with the approval of the Sheraton development in Hervey Bay leading, followed up by a beached whale at K’gari and a piece on the racing industry. All three stories had totalled to 3:05.
We then had a voiced over piece about supermarket inquiry hearings, which we were expecting to be used for other markets: (we’ll found that it wasn’t) (30secs)
Next, we had a story on the speed on Hervey Bay’s Booral Road (1:30)
followed by a piece from Toowoomba on a mental health campaign by a trucking company (1pt, 1:00).
We had a lightning V/O’d spree on the results of a tapwater tasting contest and a injury on K’gari (50secs)
Which led into what we’ll eventually see as the most common out of submarket story on this night: a piece on FB Marketplace scams from of all places: Albury in NSW. (1:30)
"Across the border... the NSW/QLD border, going towards the NSW/VIC border"
Culminating in a whalewatching report (1:30).

The Wide Bay, delivered 7:25 of 3pt news in the first fifteen minutes, for a total of 22.25pts.

Next: is the Sunshine Coast, Seven’s only live regional bulletin in QLD (all the rest are pretaped, and had production heavily retooled within weeks of 24/7)
A shot of the opener for Seven News Sunshine Coast, 24/7/24

We lead with a fire in Nambour, the ex-Seven employee for a Sunshine Coast Mayor pushing for e-scooter speed restrictions and the V/O’d announcement of a new walk-in clinic in Gympie (all totalled to 3:05)
Followed by a piece sourced from Canberra about power prices (1:20)
A V/O’d piece about Noosa’s short stay hotline (25secs)
The Toowoomba piece about a mental health campaign by a trucking company (1pt, 1:00)
A piece about the Generation Innovation contest for Sunshine Coast students (1:05)
A piece on FB Marketplace scams from of all places: Albury in NSW. (1:30)
A story on the USC lizard robot project (1:15)
A V/O’d piece on Corbould Park’s contribution to QLD racing (30secs)

The Sunshine Coast, delivered 6:20 of 3pt news in the first fifteen minutes, for a total of 19 pts.

Next, we head to Mackay: the last of Seven’s three heritage bulletins (representing the former WBQ/SEQ and MVQ license areas).

A shot of the opener for Seven News Mackay, 24/7/24

We begin with a story at a mining expo (1:30)
A story on local government funding (made in CQ, and set to be reused elsewhere) 1pt, 1:00
Meanwhile, the mayor of Gladstone didn't realize at the time someone at a computer would end up watching him several times on 24/7/24.

Issues at Mackay Base Hospital (1:30)
The Toowoomba piece about a mental health campaign by a trucking company (1pt, 1:00)
A V/O’d story on a property release at Mackay Harbour (30sec)
A story on the Challenge Games in Townsville (1pt, 1:30)
A piece on FB Marketplace scams from of all places: Albury in NSW. (1:30)
"Second Hand Scams: literally secondhand... from Seven in Albury!"

A V/O’d piece on a the latest local installation of a red bench for DV awareness (30secs)
and a piece on Mackay Council bursaries for local students (1:00)

Mackay, delivered 4:50 of 3pt news in the first fifteen minutes, for a total of 14.5 pts.

We next head up to Townsville: a market that got local news on Seven reintroduced twenty years ago: and is the first of four doubleheaders in non-heritage markets (that could well be threatened by the same budget cuts that cost BTQ Sharyn Ghidella, who was handed to 10 on a silver platter (with a side order of Liz Cantor and Josh Adsett)

A shot of the opener for Seven News Townsville, 24/7/24

We open with a story on cyclone preparation (1.30)
A mission to improve access to Blue Cards in the Palm Island community (1:20)
A story at a mining expo from Mackay (1pt 1:30)
A V/O’d piece on a Kelso car theft (20secs)
A story on local government funding, made in CQ, (1pt, 1:00)
A V/O’d piece on Magnetic Island race week (20secs)
A story on the Challenge Games being held in Townsville (1:30)
A piece on FB Marketplace scams from of all places: Albury in NSW. (1:30)
"Second Hand Scams: Only the fourth time we've seen it tonight"

A V/O’d piece on Ringers Western opening a store at Castletown later this year (20secs)
And, a piece on the Donnington Military Muster this weekend (1:00)
Townsville, delivered 6:20 of 3pt news in the first fifteen minutes, for a total of 19 pts.

Next, we go to Cairns (which regained local news on Seven at the same time as Townsville 20yrs ago)

A shot of the opener for Seven News Cairns on 24/7/24.

We open with a inquiry into the performance of insurance companies after last year’s flood event in Cairns (1:30)
A V/O’d piece on a hit/run incident in Mulgrave (15secs)
A mission to improve access to Blue Cards in the Palm Island community sourced from Townsville (1pt 1:20)
A V/O’d piece on Cairns water security improvements (20secs)
A story on local government funding, made in CQ, (1pt, 1:00)
A V/O’d piece on a Ingham yacht beaching (20secs)
A piece on a Navy drill in Cairns Harbour (1:15)
A V/O’d piece on the approaching closing date (26 July) for entries into the 2024 Cairns Festival Grand Parade (held on August 24), (20secs)
A piece on FB Marketplace scams from of all places: Albury in NSW. (1:30)
A V/O’d piece on Earlville Pony Club getting a new mower (30secs)
A story on a new photo exhibition inside the Cairns domestic air terminal (1:00)
Cairns, delivered 5:25 of 3pt news in the first fifteen minutes, for a total of 16.25 pts.

This is turning into the original Pokerap at this point. Five markets down: two more to go.

Next, we cruise back down the coast to Central Queensland: which got it’s local news on Seven in December 2010: and has bedded into the community excellently…

A shot of the opener for Seven News CQ on 24/7/24.

The lead, is independent candidate for Rockhampton, former mayor Margret Strelow campaigning on the railyards (she lost, by the way), (1:25)
A story at a mining expo from Mackay (1pt 1:30)
A V/O’d piece on a urn theft in Berserker (25secs)
A story on the annual budget for the Livingstone Shire Council (1:30)
A piece sourced from Canberra about power prices (1:20)
A piece on FB Marketplace scams from of all places: Albury in NSW. (1:30)
A story on local government funding, (1:00)
A V/O’d piece on the Tour de Queensland event by Bicycle QLD (20secs)

"And, if you go in that tunnel, you'll come out trying to find Albury/Wodonga".

A story on the USC lizard robot project from the Sunshine Coast (1pt 1:15)

CQ, delivered 4:40 of 3pt news in the first fifteen minutes, for a total of 14 pts.

And now, we finally arrive at the final bulletin of 24/7… Launched almost 10 years ago: we have Toowoomba and the Darling Downs.

A shot of the opener for Seven News Toowoomba/Darling Downs, 24/7/24

We lead with a cattle truck rollover at Moore (1:15)
A piece at Toowoomba’s courthouse (1:15)
A heavy machinery theft at Harristown being solved (1:10)
A V/O’d piece about Racing QLD Darling Downs (30secs)
The piece about a mental health campaign by a trucking company that got played in multiple markets (1:00)
The ex-Seven employee for a Sunshine Coast Mayor pushing for e-scooter speed restrictions, from the Sunshine Coast (1pt 1:25)
A business case for a new Toowoomba art gallery (1:15)
A piece on FB Marketplace scams from of all places: Albury in NSW. (1:30)
A V/O’d piece on the Ruthven St upgrade completion (30secs)
A story on the USC lizard robot project from the Sunshine Coast (1pt 1:15)

Toowoomba and the Darling Downs, delivered 6:55 of 3pt news in the first fifteen minutes, for a total of 20.75 pts.

Overall, the scores on 24/7 first, in 3pt news duration:
-Wide Bay: 7min 25secs.
-Darling Downs: 6mins 55secs.
TIE: Townsville and the Sunshine Coast: 6min 20secs
-Cairns: 5mins 25secs
-Mackay: 4min 50secs
-CQ: 4min 40secs.

And, then by total points overall.
#1: Wide Bay: 23.25pts
#2: Darling Downs: 22.75pts
#3: Townsville: 21pts
#4: Sunshine Coast: 20pts
#5: Cairns: 18.25pts
#6: Mackay: 17.5pts
#7: CQ: 16pts.

A very, very narrow win for the Wide Bay on a big news day in the two leading markets in both 3pt news duration and overall points.

The way we did the 24/7 event was via on-demand viewing of news bulletins on 7+. We open the penultimate section of Kuttsy’s Pitch X-2:

“Should we be reliant on “The Socials” to catchup on regional TV news online?”

It's obvious, there is going to be a time in the near future, where more people are watching FTA online than on broadcast (this isn’t a hairbrained prediction from a piece that has historically made significant accurate predictions based on trends, it’s a solid gold fact: ask any ad sales manager in a regional market (the standalone WIN/NBN office, SCA (usually co-located with radio) and Seven (who has their own strong local ad-sales teams in Queensland and absorbed the Prime/GWN sales staff upon acquisition), who has seen local revenue shrink as the metro networks now broadcast online directly into regional homes.) Yet, at this time in the aggregated markets of Australia there is very little access to online viewing of local first party news output as a whole picture.

Let’s start with a aggregated market by aggregated market look at how it all turns out.

QUEENSLAND:
Seven: all local bulletins are streamable on 7+, and can be watched for later viewing on 7+.
WIN: Local news bulletins are unavailable to be watched online.
SC10: Local news updates are unavailable to be watched online.

NORTHERN NSW:
NBN: Although, some markets are available on 9Now to stream in full, full bulletins are not available on 9Now, with only the local windows being available on a completely different website.
Seven: All local bulletins are streamable on 7+ and can be watched for later viewing on 7+, however: any noodle updates for the Newcastle market (which Seven doesn’t serve with news) are unavailable to be watched online.
WIN: Local news updates are unavailable to be watched online.

SOUTHERN NSW:
WIN: Local news bulletins are unavailable to be watched online.
Seven: All local bulletins are streamable on 7+ and can be watched for later viewing on 7+, however: any noodle updates for the Wollongong and Canberra markets (which Seven doesn’t serve with news) are unavailable to be watched online.
SC10: Local news updates are unavailable to be watched online.

VICTORIA:
WIN: Local news bulletins are unavailable to be watched online.
Seven: The 7News Border bulletin (serving the Albury/Wodonga area) is available on 7+ and is streamable on 7+, all other Victorian regional markets with noodle updates are unavailable to be watched online.
SC10: Local news updates are unavailable to be watched online.

TASMANIA:
SC7: Local news bulletins are available to be watched online, but not through 7+ (instead using Youtube as cheap storage space)
WIN: Local news bulletins are unavailable online.
TDT: Local news updates are unavailable online.

What I have just presented to you is a significant statement. There are no less than five submarkets in aggregated Australia where it’s practically impossible to watch their local news options online, which includes huge swathes of Victoria, as well as Wollongong and Canberra in southern NSW (which we’ve identified earlier on as needing significant local news improvements.)

There needs to be a outright push by Canberra to mandate online local news streaming (if not pressured by politicians, it should be pressured toward the industry itself, as we move ever closer to “trigger event city”, that is: every metro network having to handle increased local news quotas for regional acquisitions and integrate them into their systems, so local advertising can be sold online just as well as it does on broadcast.

But, as we close the return of a icon… we ask ourselves.
“Old News: how stale does it have to be, to be classed as news?”

In the 2002 review of local news adequacy in aggregated markets by ACMA’s predecessor the ABA, this line is apt.
“Submissions expressed concern that without competition, the news agenda can be driven by the rostering of one news media organisation and not the need to inform the community. 

One submission observed that with the closure of a local television news service, the remaining service is to some extent able to dictate the news agenda. 

It was alleged, for example, that because there’s no longer any competition, the remaining service does not have the pressure to get a story up on the night that it happens, and that stories have gone to air the next day.”
Excerpt from 2002 “Appropriate coverage of matters of local significance” report by the Australian Broadcasting Authority (now ACMA).

I’ve personally witnessed one case of week old news airing in the month or so leading up to Kuttsy’s Pitch X-Two.

And, I so eloquently described it as the following on October 9…

“If you want proof why a effective monopoly on locally produced/presented television news in regional QLD is wrong...

Tonight Seven ran in it's regional markets a story about a looming urban planner shortage in QLD: exacerbated by urban planner courses being cut at various QLD universities that was based off of all things... a press release from the Planning Institute of Australia: that was released one week ago.

Gives new meaning to slow news, right?

Would you think a story like that would be reported on far faster if there was competition that wasn't piped from Wollongong or Tasmania?”

A question needs to be outright asked: Seven, why the hell do you call a week old press release… get this: news?

Maybe because all our newsroom sounding boards are queuing up for cushy government jobs, that have more job security in this day and age than working 8am-3pm five days a week preparing news products for a 3pm deadline, and most critically have a comfortable chair to sit on, instead of the front seat of any vehicle within a television newsroom’s vehicle fleet.

Maybe, today’s newsroom is more attuned to receiving dozens of press releases a day via a email (with a bottomless server, akin to bottomless coffee), compared to the journos of thirty years ago, where press release capacity was limited by how much you could carry out to the garbage bin after going through faxes every day: case in point, in one EARC report (look on p84, and devised by the same people who rescued Queensland from a gerrymander anchor, and which ultimately led to cameras being installed in Queensland Parliament) one submission suggested thirty years ago, no less than six kilos of press releases were being faxed every month (that’s how old the 
EARC report is: it was made just after the fax machine became a press release’s best friend) to individual media outlets in Queensland. That’s 72kg a year, and likely now only taking up half a inbox today!

Maybe, today’s newsroom has no idea at all how to deal with the eversprawling inbox… maybe we need to compare to America’s smallest media markets (anything under 500k homes would be nice), or even the smallest members of the ITV network in the UK (Channel Television in the Channel Islands) to see how they deal with the press release and sound byte society we live in.

Maybe as we close this chapter, will we see significant investment: as rumors keep swirling that SCA may well offload it’s TV operations between Seven and 10 (Seven taking the only profitable things left: Tasmania, Darwin, eastern satellite and solus markets)… at a price for some assets likely far lower than what it’s corporate predecessor spent to acquire them in the late 1990’s-early 21st century, let alone the price paid to SCA for the Northern NSW market 10 affiliate by WIN in 2016.

I guarantee, if Paramount ANZ does buy CTC, TNQ and GLV/BCV, the associated costs required afterward will be far higher than the price ultimately paid for the stations: as you will not just be required to improve news dramatically (we are predicting in every submarket acquired by 10, you will need 1min per hour of local news between 6am and 11pm just to make up future quotas, which will be triggered on acquisition, just to keep the status quo (limited local news on CTC, TNQ and GLV/BCV) going) but potentially establish new sales infrastructure, as SCA radio (a money maker as most smaller regional submarkets lack true competition in radio) and 10 affiliate sales will no longer be integrated in some markets.

And then there’s the news updates themselves: Tasmania will no longer be a production option when this happens, meaning 10 would have to ultimately invest heavily in new facilities to produce barebones updates… when the same money could be better spent on re-establishing locally produced news in Townsville/Cairns and Canberra at minimum, with both facilities producing news updates for the rest of the submarkets in their state (in the case of Canberra however: it would also include Victoria).

The case is clear. Regional TV news is facing a significant crossroads: one never anticipated in 2004 when quotas were first introduced, where metro networks by the end of the decade will effectively own their regional outlets. The step forward is to push for vastly improved news quotas for markets outside the capital cities, that puts the onus on broadcasters to act in viewers best interests.

This means, pushing for more relevant news products, alongside encouraging competition to flourish (case in point, the quality of Gold Coast TV news reporting has soared since the re-establishment of a second local news service in 2016 after fifteen years absence) as well as reestablishing news bases in areas that are at severe risk of losing traditional print media (i.e. Cairns, Townsville, Canberra) in the long haul.

After all: the majority of all regional markets now have some sort of online streaming for news for at minimum, one station. The outliers will ultimately face this question as soon as they are acquired by a metropolitan network: especially as regional local news streaming is a myth for those wanting to watch WIN’s news, as well as the noodle updates produced by WIN, SCA and Seven in markets that rightly deserve better news presences.

Perhaps the biggest sign of what regional TV news could be, is inspired by Seven’s Gold Coast product: where it fits a newsroom and studio (done by the same people who did two refits of Seven’s Brisbane HQ, 11 years apart mind you) in similar floorspace to some regional sales offices.

Perhaps, we need to be pitching our ideas now… for a new age of local news evolution outside the capital cities.


Thank you for being part of a return, that was a shock when it was announced, but remains a enigma. We stated explicitly at that time almost twelve months ago, that Kuttsy’s Pitch X-Two was to fittingly be a one-off return, due to this site’s content evolution in the last few years. 

It’s not that we don’t want to do posts like this: it’s the way our content has evolved since we made the bold announcement in early 2020 (delayed from it’s originally proposed late 2019 announcement) of Content Survey Live, where we’ve turned watching 10’s news five days straight across all markets as a Kuttsy’s Pitch spinoff, into a competitive sport lasting almost three months, that stands up as it’s own brand.

Maybe the vigour isn’t there anymore in me to come back yearly… but yet the spirit of Kuttsy’s Pitch lives on in what became our biggest annual asset: Content Survey Live, and our biggest social media spinoff: Veritas on KW in which Content Survey Live is now so intertwined into it’s own legacy it’s gone and forged since January 11 2021.

Will Kuttsy’s Pitch make a third coming?

To borrow a phrase from the late Frank Warrick:

Quite simply “Not in the short term”.

But maybe, just maybe… there’s something in the lexicon coming fourth…

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