PrepTest 158, Section 3, Question 15
Selling syndicated reruns of a popular network television(82 more words not shown)
The argument depends on assuming(5 more words not shown)
- APrograms that are(15 more words not shown)
- BA drop in(9 more words not shown)
- CThe price of(10 more words not shown)
- DThe audience of(10 more words not shown)
- EMost programs are(4 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Old episodes and new episodes are doing different jobs here. Imagine a show currently airing season seven while another station reruns season one. The study says that, for more than 80 percent of programs made available both ways, the audience ratings for the new episodes drop immediately.
I can picture a reason for concern: someone who can watch the show elsewhere might spend less time watching its new episodes on the original network. But the paragraph also mentions money from selling the reruns. If that payment were enormous, wouldn't that help? Keep the recipients straight: the passage says the producers earn money from syndication, while the opening claim concerns the network's revenue. We can't simply assume those are the same financial account.
What we’re looking for
This is a paragraph worth slowing down for. There is a claim about decreased network revenue, a fact about producers' earnings, and a study about audience ratings. The question asks what the argument depends on. Rather than force a precise prediction, let's test the answers for something the reasoning needs in order to use that study to support its opening claim.
Working the answers
- A
The argument doesn't require these shows to be aging hits that were about to decline anyway. That's a possible explanation for a ratings drop independent of the reruns, but it isn't something the author must assume. The reasoning could work with a show that had been doing well right up to syndication.
- BCorrect
This is the connection that makes the paragraph come together: lower audience ratings negatively affect the network's revenue. The study gives us a ratings drop; the opening claim concerns a possible revenue drop. B connects those two pieces.
Now we can reconstruct the reasoning. Reruns become available while new episodes are still airing. The study reports that first-run ratings commonly fall in that situation. If falling ratings hurt network revenue, that evidence can support the claim that selling the reruns can lead to decreased revenue for the network.
Without that financial effect, the ratings could fall while network revenue remained untouched. The study would then fail to supply the needed support. B doesn't say the network must lose money overall in every case; it supplies the negative revenue effect on which this argument relies.
- C
Perhaps the syndication price includes money to compensate the network; perhaps it doesn't. The passage says the producers earn money but doesn't establish that the network receives compensation for lost revenue. Such compensation isn't required for syndication to have a negative effect on the network's revenue.
- D
Dedicated fans might prefer the new season, but we don't need to establish the usual preference of the whole audience. The study already reports a drop in first-run ratings. The missing issue is what that drop does to the network's money, not which kind of episode viewers say they prefer.
- E
The argument concerns programs sold into syndication while new episodes still air. It doesn't depend on most programs avoiding syndication altogether. Whether that practice is common or rare across all television, we still need to connect the reported ratings decline with the claimed revenue effect.
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