Changing the Channel Reading Answers

Jul 31, 2025

Changing the Channel Reading Answers contain 13 questions and belong to the assessment system of the IELTS General Reading test. Changing the Channel Reading Answers must be answered within 20 minutes. In this IELTS reading section, question types include: Choose FOUR letters, A-H, Match each person with the correct statement, and Write the correct letter.

Changing the Channel Reading Answers offers a comprehensive overview of Television that remains dominant despite the digital disruption, evolving with technology and facing both innovation and challenges from the internet and changing viewer habits. To practice similar reading tests, candidates can refer to the IELTS Reading Practice Test section.

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Topic:

A.One evening Steve Purdham noticed something odd. The flow of data into and out of We7, a British music-streaming website he runs, abruptly slowed. An hour later it returned to normal. Such a sharp fluctuation usually means a server is malfunctioning—a potentially ruinous problem. But when engineers checked the computer system they found nothing wrong. So what could have happened between 8pm and 9pm on a Saturday night to cause such a sudden drop in use? Suddenly it dawned on Mr. Purdham: “Britain’s Got Talent” was on television.

B.There are now hundreds of channels. A channel-surf through a basic cable-TV package in America turns up a history of the civil war, a melodrama, a college basketball game, a Hispanic talent show, European football and a documentary. Many more options are available on demand with a few clicks of the remote control. The offerings are decidedly mixed, but there is always something on. “There are no more channels that are not addressed anymore,” says Philippe Dauman, CEO of Viacom, a media company. “We try to think of new ones all the time.” Japan is a country that leads many technological trends. Last year Tokyo residents spent an average of 70 minutes a day at home consuming media on the internet or a mobile phone, up from just six minutes in 2000. But they also spent more time in front of the television: an average of 216 minutes. Among young women, the group that advertisers most want to reach, television-watching went up more steeply. Admittedly, attention was not always fixed on the box. Many teenagers send text messages on their mobile phones while watching television.

C.Distinctions between television sets, computers and mobile phones are gradually disappearing. Televisions’ monitors have double-sized and recently they became digital wireless connected with the internet. Now high-end televisions can obtain all sorts of things, from stock quotes to weather forecasts. At the same time TV is moving beyond the living room. Many programmes can be viewed on computers, mobile phones and so on. Video-streaming websites are becoming more professional, meaning they are both better designed and contain more proper television programmes. Every media business that the internet has touched so far has come off badly. Recorded music sales have fallen steeply since Napster, a file-sharing website, appeared in 1999. The internet has drawn classified advertising away from local newspapers. Book publishers have watched helplessly as online retailers and e-readers have driven down prices.

D.The internet tends to decompose media products, breaking albums into songs and splitting magazines into their constituent articles. It also brings content directly to consumers, sometimes free, and with it comes piracy. Online, people can pick and choose the content they want without paying much for it. One of the most harmful attitudes to content to have emerged in the past few years, says Jeff Bewkes, the boss of Time Warner, is the assumption that charging for content is hostile to the consumer. As the saying goes, content wants to be free, or paid for only by advertising.

E.In 1961 America had three broadcast networks, which operated on the principle that the least objectionable shows would draw the biggest audiences and the most advertising revenue. However content improved in the 1970s cable and satellite television began to spread. The result, beginning in the late 1990s and continuing to today, has been a golden age for television. It can be argued that Hollywood makes less impressive films these days than it did in the 1970s (or the 1930s), but television has improved enormously. Modern TV shows are shot more quickly than the films that went before so much better written, better acted and so stylish that they almost seem to belong to a different medium.

F.Howard Stringer, Sony’s boss, fears television will retain its position as the dominant medium for some time, but a surfeit of choice. So much content will be available on so many digital platforms that audiences will become too small to pay for good TV programmes. The internet already competes strongly for advertising. In Britain more money is now spent online than on television, although some of this cash is spent on artificial redirections on TV for advertising rates.

G.Television is not about to suffer the fate of music or newspapers, yet the next few years will be dangerous nonetheless. A handful of upstart websites, with audiences smaller than many channels at the bottom of the programme guides, have already rattled the giant TV industry. In 1990 George Gilder, an American writer, claimed that by the end of the 20th century television would be extinct because technology would enable consumers to track down programmes that precisely fit their cultural interests. Even the technologies he cited now displaced in hard to imagine the explosion of websites, social networking sites and file-sharing. Even the most visionary could not have predicted it.

H.The TV set has also evolved. Televisions used to be as deep as they were wide. Gradually they have flattened and turned into panels. The screens have become sharper and brighter. They have spread to bedrooms, kitchens and even bathrooms (with heated screens to prevent condensation). The latest devices are as thin as laptop screens. Television has gone online and become mobile. Much sooner it will leap into the third dimension.

Questions 28-31

Choose FOUR letters, A-H.

NB Your answers may be given in any order.

Which FOUR of the following statements are true of the Reading Passage 3?

A. There are surveys on the amount of time spent on the internet or in watching TV.

B. The internet has drawn all advertising completely.

C. There is a great variety of offerings on TV programmes.

D. At present TV programmes are limited within the living room.

E. The explosion of websites is displacing the television.

F. TV industry makes more impressive works these days.

G. The gap between television sets and computers are gradually expanding.

H. A few emergent internet businesses have threatened the TV industry.

28. Answer: A

Supporting statement: “Tokyo residents spent an average of 70 minutes a day at home consuming media on the internet or a mobile phone… 216 minutes [on TV].”

Keywords: [average, media time, internet, TV]

Keyword Location: Paragraph B, lines 5–7

Explanation: The passage presents statistical data comparing time spent on internet and TV, confirming a survey on usage time.

29. Answer: C

Supporting statement: “A channel-surf through a basic cable-TV package in America turns up… a history of the civil war, a melodrama, a college basketball game…”

Keywords: [variety, offerings, channels]

Keyword Location: Paragraph B, lines 2–4

Explanation: The variety of content clearly indicates that TV offers a wide range of programming.

30. Answer: F

Supporting statement: “...has been a golden age for television... so much better written, better acted and so stylish...”

Keywords: [golden age, better written, stylish]

Keyword Location: Paragraph E, lines 3–6

Explanation: The passage states that current TV content is highly impressive, implying quality has increased.

31. Answer: H

Supporting statement: “A handful of upstart websites… have already rattled the giant TV industry.”

Keywords: [upstart websites, rattled, TV industry]

Keyword Location: Paragraph G, lines 2–4

Explanation: This confirms that new online platforms have emerged as a threat to traditional TV.

Questions 32-36

Look at the following people and the list of statements below. Write the correct letter, A-H.

Match each person with the correct statement.

32. Steve Purdham

Answer: E

Supporting statement: "The flow of data...abruptly slowed...engineers found nothing wrong." (Paragraph A)

Keywords: [flow of data, malfunction]

Keyword Location: Paragraph A, lines 1–5

Explanation: He observed unusual data flow and assumed a malfunction.

35. Howard Stringer

Answer: C

Supporting statement: "...audiences will become too small to pay for good TV programmes." (Paragraph F)

Keywords: [audiences, too small, pay for TV]

Keyword Location: Paragraph F, lines 2–4

Explanation: He warns that splintered viewership will undermine TV investment.

33. Philippe Dauman

Answer: B

Supporting statement: “There are no more channels that are not addressed anymore..." (Paragraph B)

Keywords: [no more channels, new ones]

Keyword Location: Paragraph B, line 6

Explanation: He remarks on the abundance of channels, implying saturation.

36. George Gilder

Answer: D

Supporting statement: "...claimed that by the end of the 20th century television would be extinct..." (Paragraph G)

Keywords: [television extinct, predicted]

Keyword Location: Paragraph G, lines 2–3

Explanation: He foresaw the end of TV due to tailored digital content.

34. Jeff Bewkes

Answer: F

Supporting statement: "...charging for content is hostile to the consumer." (Paragraph D)

Keywords: [charging, hostile to consumer]

Keyword Location: Paragraph D, lines 4–6

Explanation: He critiques the anti-payment attitude of online users.

LIST OF STATEMENTS

A. supported the idea that consumers should denounce the means of piracy

B. there are already too many channels on TV

C. predicts the shrinkage on investment in the TV programmes when more people turn to internet

D. believed that the conventional TV would die out

E. confused by the unstable flow of data

F. thinks that the readers are dislike to pay for the contents online

G. TV industry is developing and soaring quickly

H. figured out that a server was malfunctioning

Questions 37-40

Complete the summary of the LAST paragraph. Write the correct letter, A-H.

Following the 37…………..

Answer: Development

Supporting statement: "The TV set has also evolved."

Keywords: [evolved, TV set, development]

Keyword Location: Paragraph H, Line 1

Explanation: The phrase indicates that the evolution of the television set refers to its development over time, marking technological and design improvements.

of the TV set, the 38……………..

Answer: Panel

Supporting statement: "Gradually they have flattened and turned into panels."

Keywords: [flattened, turned into panels]

Keyword Location: Paragraph H, Line 2

Explanation: The modern TVs are now referred to as panels due to their thin, flat form, replacing older bulky TV sets.

televisions have emerged with 39……………

Answer: Brighter

Supporting statement: "The screens have become sharper and brighter."

Keywords: [sharper, brighter, screens]

Keyword Location: Paragraph H, Line 3

Explanation: The term brighter describes the improved screen quality in modern televisions, making the display more vivid and appealing.