Texting the TV- IELTS Reading Answers

{A} 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.

{B} 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 chartrooms. 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.

{C} 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 euro0.30 ($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

{D} 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 realized 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.

{E} 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.

{F} At a recent conference organized 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

{G} 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.

Questions 28-32

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

28 Paragraph A

29 Paragraph B

30 Paragraph C

31 Paragraph D

32 Paragraph E

Questions 33-35 

Question 33 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

Question 34 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

Question 35 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

Questions 36-40

(A) Lars Becker Flytxt

(B) Katrina Bond of Analysis

(C) Endemol

(D) CMG

(E) mm02

(F) Gartner

36 offer mobile phone message technology

37 earned a considerable amount of money through a famous program

38 shortcodes are convenient to remember when turning up

39 build their own mobile phone operating applications

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

Reading Answers

28 Answer: (ii)

Question type: Matching Information

Answer location: Paragraph A

Answer explanation: Paragraph A of the passage talks about the dominance of television shows in Europe that enable their audience to send text messages to a telephone number from their mobile phones over shows that provide the same facility over email. The paragraph also talks about the fast-growing pace of this business model that has led to text messaging surpassing Internet usage among the younger generation. The line “One of the fastest-growing uses of text messaging, moreover, is interacting with television”, clearly suggests the rapid growth of this phenomenon in Europe. Thus, the answer is (ii).

29 Answer: (vi)

Question type: Matching Information

Answer location: Paragraph B

Answer explanation: Paragraph B suggests that the scope of “TV texting” is much wider than just voting for reality-TV shows, which was the reason behind the rise of sending text messages to TV shows. Other television shows like News shows encourage people to send their opinions, comments, requests, etc. leading to more applications and uses of “TV texting”. Thus, the answer is (vi).

30 Answer: (vii)

Question type: Matching Information

Answer location: Paragraph C

Answer explanation: Paragraph C talks about the increase in revenue gains that “TV-related text messaging” generates. Since mobile operators charge premium rates for text messaging at certain numbers, text messaging TV shows are quite lucrative for both mobile operators and TV shows. The line “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” clearly suggests that a major share of the revenue generated from “TV-related text messaging” is also received by the producers of the TV shows as a bonus, apart from the revenue generated from broadcasting the shows. Thus, the answer is (vii)

31 Answer: (i)

Question type: Matching Information

Answer location: Paragraph D

Answer explanation: Paragraph D talks about the availability of “shortcodes” or “special four-, five- or six-digit numbers” and how the use of these “shortcodes” across all networks was a critical factor in the success of “TV-related text messaging”. Since these “shortcodes” are easier to remember when flashed on the screen, they were preferable to long numbers. Thus, the answer is (i).

32 Answer: (v)

Question type: Matching Information

Answer location: Paragraph E

Answer explanation: Paragraph E talks about the decision of mobile operators to co-operate with television shows in order to expand their market. Since mobile operators had already faced losses with their WAP technology, where they were reluctant to share profits with content creators of websites, they had now decided to change their perspective. Thus, the answer is (v)

33 Answer: A

Question type: Multiple Choice Question

Answer location: Paragraph A, line 4 – line 7

Answer explanation: In the 4th line of Paragraph A, it is stated that “according to research about to be published by Gartner, a consultancy, text messaging has recently overtaken Internet use in Europe”. The 7th line of Paragraph A mentions the portion of the young population that has responded to TV shows through text messaging. Thus, the answer is A.

34 Answer: D

Question type: Multiple Choice Question

Answer location: Paragraph B, Line 1

Answer explanation: In the first line of Paragraph B, it says that “This has much to do with the boom in “reality TV” shows, such as “Big Brother”, in which viewers’ votes decide the outcome.” This clearly suggests that the vote of the viewers can lead to change in the result of a reality television show. Thus, the answer is D.

35 Answer: C

Question type: Multiple Choice Question

Answer location: Paragraph F, line 11

Answer explanation: In the 11th and last line of Paragraph F, it states that “Providers of set-top box technology are adding text messaging capabilities to their products.” This clearly shows that the service providers are focussing on building an embedded message platform. Thus, the answer is C.

36 Answer: D

Question type: Matching Information

Answer location: Paragraph F, Line 1 – Line 2

Answer explanation: The first line of Paragraph F says that “…..CMG, a firm that provides text-message infrastructure…….”, which clearly suggests that CMG offers mobile phone messaging technology. Thus, the answer is D.

37 Answer: E

Question type: Matching Information

Answer location: Paragraph C, line 11 – line 13

Answer explanation: The following line “In July, a British operator, mm02, reported better-than-expected financial results, thanks to the flood of messages caused by “Big Brother”, from Paragraph C, clearly indicates that mm02, a British operator earned a considerable amount of money through a famous program that is “Big Brother”. Thus, the answer is E.

38 Answer: A

Question type: Matching Information

Answer location: Paragraph D, line 4 – line 6

Answer explanation: The 4th line of Paragraph D says that “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.” This clearly shows that according to Lars Becker of Flytxt, shortcodes are convenient to remember when turning up. Thus, the answer is A.

39 Answer: C

Question type: Matching Information

Answer location: Paragraph C, line 17 – line19

Answer explanation: The 17th line of Paragraph C states that “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”. This indicates that Endemol is building its own mobile phone operating applications to bypass mobile operators. Thus, the answer is C.

40 Answer: F

Question type: Matching Information

Answer location: Paragraph B, line 6 – line 7

Answer explanation: The 6th line of Paragraph B says that “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.” This indicates that in Gartner’s opinion, it is easy for people to send messages on an interactive TV, since “it’s a very natural form of interaction”. Hence, the answer is F.

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