Table of Contents
BEST IELTS Academic Reading Test 304
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST – PASSAGE – 3
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST
READING PASSAGE – 3
THE MOST POPULAR LEAGUES
The year is 2034. The Olympics that have been a fixture on channels owned by NBC Universal since 2002 have disappeared from TV altogether. Instead, the Winter Games streams live to your phone courtesy of Amazon, which bid the rights away from all of the biggest media companies. The downhill skiing competition has never looked better in 16K screen resolution, with not a hint of buffering. This fictional scenario may sound inconceivable, and no company is known to be making a play for the rights to the Olympics just yet.
But as NBC is set to blanket the two biggest sporting events on American calendars Super Bowl LII (Feb. 4) and the 2018 Winter Olympics (Feb. 9-25) — across screens everywhere next month, tech titans are making an unmistakable advance on sports telecasts that were once the exclusive preserve of traditional media companies.
IELTS Academic Reading Test
Over the past two years, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Verizon and Yahoo have picked up smaller sets of mostly nonexclusive rights to different packages of live pro games, essentially rebroadcasting what’s seen on TV to a fraction of the audiences coming to linear channels. But the current bidding war for primetime TV rights to “Thursday Night Football,” which the NFL is shopping to broadcasters and streaming services alike, is indication enough that Silicon Valley players are poised to snatch away all of the rights packages they’re currently content to share.
“One day you’ll wake up and say, “Son of a gun! The NFL is no longer on X network it’s in a new place,” predicts industry vet Michael Kassan, founder and CEO of consulting firm MediaLink.
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In the U.S., TV and streaming rights for the most popular leagues are (mostly) locked up until 2021. But digital platforms may strike sooner on foreign shores. In the U.K., for example, bids for English Premier League soccer rights are on the table this year and Amazon has been rumoured to be a serious contender to vie against current rights holders BT and Sky. The crown jewel of European sports rights, EPL cost the two companies roughly $7 billion in 2015.
New media’s most powerful entities arc mum on whether they’re willing to strike for the biggest rights deals. A sport is “an area we want to continue to invest in,” says Dan Reed, Facebook’s head of global sports partnerships, declining to get specific. “We see all kinds of fans on our platform, ranging from the most popular sports to niche sports.”
While the scale of their ambitions is unclear, some of the tech giants certainly have pockets deep enough to easily bid up the multibillion-dollar price tags on game packages. That could put them beyond the reach of media companies already suffering financially as ratings for some top sports attractions sag. But if incumbent rights holders are feeling the pain now, that’s nothing compared with the world of hurt that awaits them in the event when they lose the content that’s the linchpin stabilizing many of their businesses.
IELTS Academic Reading Test
Questions 32-34
Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D.
32. When the writer mentions the fictional scenario of Olympics he specifies that
A. People have a fixture on channels
B. Most of the sports have coverage from media companies
C. People are contended with buffering networks
D. The games would be popular on phone applications
33. What is NBC currently responsible for?
A. The rights of Olympics
B. The Two famous events of a region
C. The exclusive telecast of fun
D. The American calendars
34. The writer states that the audience to TV channels has
A. Increased lately
B. Decreased because of lack of channels
C. Share non exclusive right
D. Shifted focus towards watching their favourite shows online
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Questions 35-40
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the text? In boxes 35-40 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE – If the statement agrees with the information
FALSE – If the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN – If there is no information on this
35. TV shows in America have not openly shared their streaming rights.
36. The soccer game in United Kingdom will be hosted by BT and sky in the future.
37. Sports is considered to be a lucrative area of investment.
38. According to Dan Reed most of the aspirants and followers of sports enjoy seeing skiing.
39. Most of the media tycoons may continue to do bigger Investments yet have indefinite goals.
40. The writer is convinced that with current changes, big tycoons may lose business in future.
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ANSWERS ARE BELOW
ANSWERS
32. D
33. B
34. D
35. TRUE
36. NOT GIVEN
37. TRUE
38. FALSE
39. TRUE
40. TRUE
IELTS Academic Reading Test