LSAT 138 – Section 2 – Question 06

LSAT 138 - Section 2 - Question 06

December 2012

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT138 S2 Q06
+LR
Resolve reconcile or explain +RRE
Causal Reasoning +CausR
A
0%
152
B
1%
157
C
4%
154
D
90%
165
E
5%
159
129
140
150
 +Easier 147.395 +SubsectionMedium

A film makes a profit if the number of people who see it is sufficient to generate revenues from ticket sales greater than the amount spent to make it. Hence, the primary goal of movie executives is to maximize the number of people who see a film. However, it is not the primary goal of television executives to maximize the number of viewers for their shows.

"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why is maximizing the number of viewers for a TV show not the primary goal for TV executives, even though maximizing viewers is the primary goal for movie executives? Films make a profit if the number of viewers is enough to generate ticket sales greater than the amount spent to make the film. So, we might expect the same to be true for TV shows.

Objective
The correct answer should help differentiate TV shows from films in a way that would suggest maximizing viewers isn’t as important for a TV shows as it is for a film.

A
More people are willing to see a film more than once than are willing to watch a television show more than once.
The willingness of a viewer to watch the same film or the same TV show doesn’t relate to the motivation of TV executives or the connection between viewership and profits for TV shows.
B
There is no analog in television to the large profits that owners of movie theaters make by selling refreshments to their customers.
This answer concerns profits of movie theater owners. But that doesn’t explain why TV show executives don’t have maximizing viewership as the primary goal. Wouldn’t we still expect higher viewership to lead to more profits?
C
The average cost of producing an hour of film is much greater than the average cost of producing an hour of television.
So, films are more expensive to produce than TV shows per hour. Wouldn’t we still expect TV show execs to want more profits and for more viewership to serve that purpose? They might not need to make as much as films do to make a profit, but we’d still expect them to want viewers.
D
Television shows make their profits from sponsors, who are chiefly concerned with the purchasing power of the people who watch a television show.
This tells us something that differentiates TV shows from movies in a way that could affect TV executives’ goal. Since TV profits come from sponsors (rather than from ticket sales), TV executives might prioritize reaching rich viewers rather than the number of viewers.
E
Over half of the most popular television shows are shows that viewers do not have to pay to watch.
This still leaves a significant portion of TV shows that could require payment to watch. We’d still expect TV executives to want to maximize viewership of these shows. Why don’t they? This answer doesn’t provide a potential explanation.

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LSAT PrepTest 138 Explanations

Section 1 - Reading Comprehension

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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