Texting the TV Reading Answers

Sep 30, 2022

Texting the tv Reading Answers 13 questions that have to be answered in 20 minutes. Reading Answers comprises question types, namely-. Write the correct number, choose the correct letter and write the appropriate letter. Candidates are required to write the correct number from the given options i-x, choose the correct letter from options A-D and write the appropriate letter from the given option A-E on the basis of the given cue and information provided in the passage.

Candidates must read the IELTS reading passage, identify keywords, and recognize synonyms to answer the question.

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Reading Passage Question

There was a time when any self-respecting television show, particularly one aimed at a young audience, had to have an e-mail address. But on Europe’s TV screens, such addresses are increasingly being pushed aside in favour of telephone numbers to which viewers can send text messages from their mobile phones. And no wonder: according to research about to be published by Gartner, a consultancy, text messaging has recently overtaken Internet use in Europe. One of the fastest-growing uses of text messaging, moreover, is interacting with television. Gartner’s figures show that 20% of teenagers in France, 11% in Britain and 9% in Germany have sent messages in response to TV shows.
This has much to do with the boom in “reality TV” shows, such as “Big Brother'', in which viewers’ votes decide the outcome. Most reality shows now allow text-message voting, and in some cases, such as the most recent series of “Big Brother'' in Norway, the majority of votes are cast in this way. But there is more to TV texting than voting. News shows encourage viewers to send in comments; games shows allow viewers to compete; music shows take requests by text message, and broadcasters operate on-screen chat rooms. People tend to have their mobiles with them on the sofa, so “it’s a very natural form of interaction,” says Adam Daum of Gartner.
It can also be very lucrative since mobile operators charge premium rates for messages to particular numbers. The most recent British series of “Big Brother'', for example, generated 5.4m text-message votes and £1.35m ($2.1m) in revenue. According to a report from Van Dusseldorp & Partners, a consultancy based in Amsterdam, the German edition of MTV’s “Videoclash'', which invites viewers to vote for one of two rival videos, generates up to 40,000 messages an hour, each costing eur0.30 ($0.29). A text contest alongside the Belgian quiz show “1 Against 100” attracted 110,000 players in a month, each of whom paid euro 0.50 per question in an eight-round contest. In Spain, a cryptic-crossword clue is displayed before the evening news broadcast; viewers are invited to text in their answers at a cost of euro 1, for a chance to win a euro300 prize. On a typical day, 6,000 people take part. TV-related text messaging now accounts for an appreciable share of mobile operators’ data revenues. In July, a British operator, mm02, reported better-than-expected financial results, thanks to the flood of messages caused by “Big Brother''. Operators typically take 40-50% of the revenue from each message, with the rest divided between the broadcaster, the program maker, and the firm providing the message processing system. Text-message revenues are already a vital element of the business model for many shows. Inevitably, there is grumbling that the operators take too much of the pie. Endemol, the Netherlands-based production company behind “Big Brother'' and many other reality TV shows, has started building its own database of mobile phone users. The next step will be to establish direct billing relationships with them and bypass the operators
Why has the union of television and text messages suddenly proved so successful? One important factor is the availability of special four-, five- or six-digit numbers, called “shortcodes”. Each operator controls its own shortcodes, and only relatively recently have operators realised that it makes sense to co-operate and offer shortcodes that work across all networks. The availability of such common shortcodes was a breakthrough, says Lars Becker of Flytxt, a mobile-marketing firm, since shortcodes are far easier to remember when flashed up on the screen.
The operators’ decision to co-operate in order to expand the market is part of a broader trend, observes Katrina Bond of Analysis, a consultancy. Faced with a choice between protecting their margins and allowing a new medium to emerge, operators have always chosen the first. WAP, a technology for reading cut-down web pages on mobile phones, failed because operators were reluctant to share revenue with content providers. Having learnt their lesson, operators are changing their tunes. In France, one operator, Orange, has even gone so far as to publish a rate card for text-message revenue-sharing, a degree of transparency that would once have been unthinkable.
At a recent conference organised by Van Dusseldorp & Partners, Han Weegink of CMG, a firm that provides text-message infrastructure, noted that all this is subtly changing the nature of television. Rather than presenting content to viewers, an increasing number of programs involve content that reacts to the viewer’s input. That was always the promise of interactive TV, of course. Interactive TV was supposed to revolve around fancy set-top boxes that plug directly into the television. But that approach has a number of drawbacks, says Mr Daum. It is expensive to develop and test software for multiple and incompatible types of set-top boxes, and the market penetration, at 40% or less, is lower than that for mobile phones, which are now owned by around 85% of Europeans. Also, mobile-phone applications can be quickly developed and set up. “You can get to market faster, and with fewer grasping intermediaries,” says Mr Daum. Providers of set-top box technology are adding text messaging capabilities to their products
The success of TV-related texting is a reminder of how easily an elaborate technology can be unexpectedly overtaken by a simpler, lower-tech approach. It does not mean that the traditional approach to interactive TV is doomed: indeed, it demonstrates that there is strong demand for interactive services. People, it seems, really do want to do more than just staring at the screen. If nothing else, couch potatoes like to exercise their thumbs.

Solution with Explanation
Questions 28-32:
The reading passage has seven paragraphs, A-G
Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A-E from the list below.
Write the correct number, i-v, in boxes 28-32 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings (i) an existed critical system into operating in a new way (ii) Overview of a fast-growing business (iii) profitable games are gaining more concerns (iv) the Netherlands takes the leading role (v) a new perspective towards sharing the business opportunities (vi) opportunities for all-round prevalent applications (vii) revenue gains and bonus share (viii) the simpler technology prevails over complex ones (ix) set-top box provider changed their mind

Paragraph A

Answer: ii
Supporting Sentence: One of the fastest-growing uses of text messaging, moreover, is interacting with television
Keywords: text messaging, television, interaction, uses
Keywords Location: Paragraph A, 4th line
Explanation: The passage's first paragraph (paragraph A) discusses the popularity of television programmes in Europe. It allows viewers to send text messages to a phone number from their smartphones over programmes that offer the same functionality via email. The paragraph also discusses the business model's rapid expansion, which has caused younger people to use text messaging more frequently than the Internet. The statement "One of the fastest-growing uses of text messaging, moreover, is interacting with television" makes it obvious how quickly this phenomena has spread throughout Europe.

Paragraph B

Answer: vi
Supporting Sentence: But there is more to TV texting than voting. News shows encourage viewers to send in comments; games shows allow viewers to compete; music shows take requests by text message, and broadcasters operate on-screen chat rooms.
Keywords: comment, games, music shows, chat rooms
Keywords Location: Paragraph B, 3rd and 4th line
Explanation: According to graph B, the reach of "TV texting" is far broader than simply voting for reality-TV shows, which was the cause for the rise of texting to TV shows. The popularity of "TV texting" has increased. It is because of other television programmes, such as news programmes, which invite viewers to communicate their thoughts, demands, etc.

Paragraph C

Answer: vii
Supporting Sentence: Operators typically take 40-50% of the revenue from each message, with the rest divided between the broadcaster, the program maker, and the firm providing the message processing system
Keywords: revenue, divided, broadcaster, program maker, processing system
Keywords Location: Paragraph C, 8th line
Explanation: In paragraph C, the growth in income gains generated by "TV-related text messaging" is discussed. TV shows and mobile operators both profit greatly from text messaging since mobile operators charge premium rates for text messaging at specific numbers. The statement "Operators normally take 40–50% of the money from each message, with the remainder divided between the broadcaster. Further between the programme maker, and the firm supplying the message processing system." Makes it abundantly plain that the makers of TV shows also earn a significant portion of the revenue. These revenues are from "TV-related text messaging" as a bonus in addition to the revenue from airing the shows.

Paragraph D

Answer: i
Supporting Sentence: Each operator controls its own shortcodes, and only relatively recently have operators realised that it makes sense to co-operate and offer shortcodes that work across all networks.
Keywords: shortcodes, operators, co-operate, network
Keywords Location: Paragraph D, 3rd line
Explanation: In paragraph D, it is discussed how the availability of "shortcodes" or "special four-, five-, or six-digit numbers" was a significant aspect in the success of "TV-related text messaging." These "shortcodes" were chosen over long numbers because they are simpler to memorise when flashed on the screen.

Paragraph E

Answer: v
Supporting Sentence: In France, one operator, Orange, has even gone so far as to publish a rate card for text-message revenue-sharing, a degree of transparency that would once have been unthinkable.
Keywords: rate card, transparency, unthinkable, revenue sharing
Keywords Location: Paragraph E, last line
Explanation: In paragraph E, it is discussed how mobile operators decided to work with television programmes to increase their market share. Mobile operators have changed their mindset after experiencing losses with their WAP technology and being unwilling to share earnings with web content creators.

Questions 33-35:
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write your answers in boxes 33-35 on your answer sheet.

In Europe, a consultancy suggested that young audiences spend more money on:

(A) thumbing text message
(B) writing Email
(C) watching TV program
(D) talking through Mobile phones

Answer: A
Supporting Sentence: And no wonder: according to research about to be published by Gartner, a consultancy, text messaging has recently overtaken Internet use in Europe.
Gartner’s figures show that 20% of teenagers in France, 11% in Britain and 9% in Germany have sent messages in response to TV shows.
Keywords: text messaging, internet use, teenagers, messages, response, tv shows
Keywords Location: Paragraph A, line 3 and 5
Explanation: According to research that Gartner, a consultancy, is preparing to publish, text messaging has lately surpassed Internet use in Europe. It is as mentioned in the third line of Paragraph A. The youthful population's use of text messaging to react to TV shows is mentioned in the fifth line of Paragraph A.

what happened when some TV show invited the audience to participate:

(A) get attractive bonus
(B) shows are more popular in Norway than in other countries
(C) change to invite them to the reality show
(D) their participation could change the result

Answer: D
Supporting Sentence: This has much to do with the boom in “reality TV” shows, such as “Big Brother”, in which viewers’ votes decide the outcome.
Keywords: reality, tv shows, viewers, outcome, decide
Keywords Location: Paragraph B, line 1
Explanation: According to the first sentence of Paragraph B, "This has much to do with the surge in "reality TV" shows, such as "Big Brother," where viewers' votes determine the outcome." This demonstrates how a reality television show's outcome can change based on fan voting.

Interactive TV change their mind of concentrating on set-top box but switched to:

(A) increase their share in the market
(B) change a modified set-top box
(C) build an embedded message platform
(D) march into the European market

Answer: C
Supporting Sentence: Providers of set-top box technology are adding text messaging capabilities to their products.
Keywords: set up box, technology, text messaging, products
Keywords Location: Paragraph F, line 8
Explanation: According to paragraph F, "providers of set-top box technology are adding text messaging capabilities to their products." This demonstrates unequivocally that the service providers' main priority is developing an embedded message platform.

Questions 36-40:
Use the information in the passage to match the people (listed A-E) with opinions or deeds below. Write the appropriate letters A-E in boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet.

(A) Lars Becker Flytxt
(B) Katrina Bond of Analysis
(C) Endemol
(D) CMG
(E) mm02
(F) Gartner

offer mobile phone message technology

Answer: D
Supporting Sentence:..CMG, a firm that provides text-message infrastructure…
Keywords: provide, firm, text message
Keywords Location: Paragraph F, line 1
Explanation: It is quite evident that CMG provides mobile phone messaging technology from the first line of Paragraph F, which reads, ".....CMG, a corporation that provides text-message infrastructure.."

earned a considerable amount of money through a famous program

Answer: E
Supporting Sentence: In July, a British operator, mm02, reported better-than-expected financial results, thanks to the flood of messages caused by “Big Brother
Keywords: british operator, financial results, messages, big brother
Keywords Location: Paragraph C, 8th line
Explanation: The sentence in Paragraph C that begins, "In July, a British operator, mm02, reported better-than-expected financial results, thanks to the flood of messages caused by "Big Brother," makes it abundantly clear that mm02, a British operator, made a sizeable profit from the well-known programme "Big Brother."

shortcodes are convenient to remember when turning up

Answer: A
Supporting Sentence: The availability of such common shortcodes was a breakthrough, says Lars Becker of Flytxt, a mobile-marketing firm, since shortcodes are far easier to remember when flashed up on the screen
Keywords: availability, mobile marketing, short codes
Keywords Location: Paragraph D, last line
Explanation: According to paragraph D, "the availability of such popular shortcodes was a breakthrough," because "shortcodes are significantly easier to recall when flashed up on the screen." This demonstrates unequivocally that shortcodes, in the opinion of Lars Becker of Flytxt, are simple to remember when showing up.

build their own mobile phone operating applications

Answer: C
Supporting Sentence: Endemol, the Netherlands-based production company behind “Big Brother” and many other reality TV shows, has started building its own database of mobile phone users.
Keywords: production, reality tv shows, building, database, mobile phone
Keywords Location: Paragraph C, 2nd last line
Explanation: The final sentence of Paragraph C reads, "Endemol, the Dutch production firm behind "Big Brother" and many other reality TV programmes, has begun developing its own database of mobile phone users." This suggests that Endemol is developing its own mobile operating systems in order to avoid mobile providers.

it is easy for people to send messages in an interactive TV

Answer: F
Supporting Sentence: People tend to have their mobiles with them on the sofa, so “it’s a very natural form of interaction,” says Adam Daum of Gartner.
Keywords: people, mobiles, sofa, natural form, interaction
Keywords Location: Paragraph B, last line
Explanation: In the final sentence of paragraph B, it is said that "it's a pretty natural type of engagement," according to Adam Daum of Gartner, because people frequently have their phones with them on the couch. This shows that, in Gartner's opinion, using an interactive TV to transmit messages is simple since "it's a really natural sort of contact."