Edinburgh Interactive, part of the Edinburgh Festival, and the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival today announced plans for a far-reaching partnership that will bring the games industry together with the TV industry.

On Thursday 26th August 2010, the eve of the TV Festival and the closing day of Edinburgh Interactive, the two will host the first ever creative industries event for television and games, providing an insight into technologies, but more importantly bringing the decision makers from games and television together for the first time.

The MGEITF Futureview Keynote Address will be given this year by a games industry leader, with Edinburgh Interactive hosting a Keynote Address from television. There will also be a Creative Masterclass at MGEITF which will bring together games developers and creatives to discuss the game development process and to explore what the opportunities may be for co-development of interactive TV and games formats.

Today there are 13 million new generation static games consoles in UK homes (Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox and Sony Playstation 3), giving access to games, the internet, dedicated content channels and either the BBC iPlayer or Sky Player.

With TV formats such as I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here, Countdown, Family Fortunes and Ready Steady Cook already available as Nintendo Wii and DS games, it is only a matter of time before the TV industry will develop new games formats for next generation 3D HD TVs with integrated console and internet access. Games are already becoming a major driver for digital entertainment usage, particularly on the internet and mobile phone platforms.

Chris Deering, Chairman of Edinburgh Interactive, said: “Games have had a significant effect on the use of the television in the home. Over the last 12 months this has moved on dramatically with recent research showing that 10 per cent of all BBC iPlayer requests are being driven by games consoles. The debate between the two industries has not yet begun; it will begin in August at Edinburgh Interactive and MGEITF.”

Deborah Turness, Editor of ITV News and Advisory Chair of the MGEITF Advisory Committee, said: “This is an exciting opportunity to explore joint format development between television and games and is a natural evolution driven by major advances in technology. In bringing together executives from these two entertainment industries to discuss, network and share ideas, we place both Festivals at the centre of a new global debate in Edinburgh.”

Edinburgh Interactive takes place on Wednesday 25th and Thursday 26th August 2010.

MGEITF takes place between Friday 27th August and Sunday 29th August 2010.

To find out more, and to register, please visit www.mgeitf.co.uk

Ask young women today what they want, and one thing becomes clear. They are not short on aspiration.

Join our panel as we survey the evidence: in a 2004 Equal Opportunities Commission survey of year 10 pupils, 88 per cent of girls said that choosing a career with long term prospects was very important to them. A 2006 survey found that over 90 per cent of young people surveyed wanted to balance career and family life in the future. Can a career in Television provide that for women?

Skillset’s 2009 Employment Census Report and 2008 Creative Media Workforce Survey are due to reveal the real differences between men and women in the TV workforce. Why is there such a gap in representation of women aged over 35, are women leaving, and why? What barriers are being faced, is the industry institutionally ageist and sexist? Is wisdom and experience not respected?

How do you balance having children? Or should we just admit TV is a young girl’s game; a fast-moving youth driven industry fuelled by new ideas and what we are seeing is actually the reality of a creative industry? Also, given there are many women in senior roles in TV; is there anything to complain about at all?

Join contributors from the industry including Lorraine Heggessey Chief Executive talkbackTHAMES and first female BBC One Controller,

Eileen Gallagher Chief Executive Shed Productions, Anne Morrison Director BBC Academy, as well as representatives from Skillset and Women in Film and Television to discuss and debate the squandering of female talent in our industry, and most importantly, what we need to do about it.

Date: Wednesday 17th March , 18:30. Venue: BAFTA, 195 Piccadilly, W1J 9LN

Book Here

The Network is a FREE industry led scheme helps young people kick start their TV careers at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival. Applications now sought via www.mgeitf.co.uk/thenetwork

Do you know anyone who would like a career in television? The Network gives young people the chance to work alongside some of the UK’s best production, marketing and creative teams from the likes of Sky News, MTV, EastEnders and Endemol.

 The Edinburgh Television Festival’s acclaimed scheme, The Network, opens today for applications for its FREE event in Edinburgh in August 2010. Over four days, successful delegates will have the opportunity to meet the best professionals from behind and in front of the camera, listen to talks from senior industry people, get advice from experts, create and produce television. Attendees will come away with new skills, contacts and advice. Attendees must be over 18 years old. No previous experience is needed, just a keen interest in working in television.

Tim Hincks, Chair of the Edinburgh TV Festival Executive Committee and Chief Executive, Endemol UK said today: “Getting a camel through the eye of a needle has long been easier than getting a job in television, but The Network is helping to change that. It is about giving a real leg-up to a fresh and diverse range of new talents”.

Past speakers at The Network have ranged from comedian Russell Howard, Charlie Brooker, Vernon Kay, Sharon Osbourne, Graham Norton, Simon Amstell and Sir Trevor McDonald as well as leading industry figures including the writers of the Inbetweeners, Sky Controller Stuart Murphy, writer Andy Hamilton, Dr Who writer Russell T Davies, crews from MTV News, EastEnders, Emmerdale and BBC Entertainment’s Karl Warner, Jay Hunt and Julian Bellamy.

Applicants should apply online for this FREE event, which this year takes place between 26 and 29 August. No previous experience is necessary; applications are welcome from anyone who has good ideas and an interest in working in television. To find out more about the scheme log on to www.mgeitf.co.uk/thenetwork. Applications close on 16 April 2010.

Delegates who have attended The Network are also given the opportunity to apply for a six month paid work placement at some of the leading TV companies in the UK through The Network at Work programme. Companies taking part include Nickelodeon, Shine, TwoFour Production, Silver River, Endemol and BBC Children’s.

Book your place for the 2010 Festival now

Registration is now open for the 35th annual MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival. As a delegate, you gain access to three days of over 50 sessions, keynote speeches, masterclasses and social events.

Discounts are available for under 26s and students. For more information and to book your place, visit www.mgeitf.co.uk

Monday October 12, 2009: London – Deborah Turness, Editor of ITV News, has been appointed 2010 Advisory Chair of the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival Advisory Committee, taking over from 2009’s Chair Elaine Bedell.

As Chair, Turness will be responsible for the editorial direction of the Festival’s programme – from commissioning session ideas to overseeing final production. Working closely with the Festival Office, the Advisory Chair brings together a committee from across the entire industry to advise and produce festival sessions.

Turness has been Editor of ITV News since 2004 and is the first female editor of network news in the UK and the youngest editor of ITV News. In 2008 she received the “Women in Film and Television” New and Factual Award. This month her programmes have won an Emmy for coverage of the Chinese earthquake and a BAFTA earlier this year for the same story. Previously, she has presided over a series of scoops and world exclusives including video of the arrest of the London bombers, the leaked report on the shooting of innocent Brazilian Jean-Charles De Menezes and exposing the extent of Charles Kennedy’s drink problem for which ITV News won Scoop Of The Year at the 2007 RTS Awards. Under her leadership ITV News has made history when they became the first news organisation to anchor whole programmes from Antarctica in 2007.

Prior to joining ITV News, Turness was Deputy Editor of ITV News and Deputy Editor of Five News. She was also ITN’s Washington Bureau Producer during the Clinton White House years, spent time in Bosnia during the Balkans War and was North of England producer. Turness began her career at ITN as a freelance producer in the Paris Bureau.

Tim Hincks, Executive Committee Chair 2010 and Chief Executive, Endemol UK, said: “I’m delighted Deborah is going to be Edinburgh’s advisory chair next year. It’ll be a pretty quiet year for her – what with running the ITV news operation, ITV’s election coverage and now the UK’s premier multimedia event, but she’s a force of nature and I know will deliver a brilliant Edinburgh.”

Turness, added: “I am very pleased to have been invited to chair next year’s Festival. Elaine Bedell produced an excellent, headline-grabbing Festival this year, and I am looking forward to working with the committee to create some equally newsworthy, compelling and entertaining sessions next year.”

Previous advisory chairs have included Elaine Bedell, ITV’s Director of Entertainment & Comedy; Andrew Mackenzie, C4 Head of Factual Entertainment; Alison Sharman, ITV’s Director of Factual and Daytime. Tim Hincks, Chief Executive of Endemol UK, Celador’s Head of Factual Entertainment Murray Boland, Tiger Aspect’s Charles Brand, Cheetah Television’s Creative Director Sara Ramsden, ITV’s Director of Global Content Dawn Airey, BBC Director General Mark Thompson and Discovery USA’s Jane Root.

This year’s MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Festival attracted delegates not only from the UK but across the globe from South Africa to Finland, the USA and Australia. The Festival is a charitable organisation which also runs two free talent schemes — The Network and Fast Track — helping young people from a diverse range of backgrounds to get in and get on in the industry. 2009 saw both schemes attract a record number of applicants.

Comedian Russell Howard was the opening night speaker for the Network and then delegates participated in workshops and masterclasses from amongst others the stars and writer of The Inbetweeners (Simon Bird, James Buckley and Iain Morris), Charlie Brooker, Jay Hunt and Julian Bellamy.

Two Fast Track delegates walked away with commissions from UKTV Dave at Fast Track’s live pitch; Sam Ward from Tiger Aspect and freelancer Rob Holloway. They both received a £15,000 commission for 3×3′ programmes which are due to be delivered in April 2010.

The Network and Fast Track are funded through the MGEITF, with approximately one-third of delegate fees going towards these schemes.

–ENDS–

Notes to Editors:

About MGEITF:

Click here for more information http://www.mgeitf.co.uk

A unique opportunity for individuals from across the media to share ideas, make new contacts and reconnect with friends and colleagues, the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival offers delegates a varied programme of topical debates, one to one networking opportunities, Masterclasses and Keynote Lectures from leading UK and international media figures. The Festival programme is developed by an Advisory Committee made up of individuals from across the industry. The MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival is a delegate entry event which annually attracts over 2000 delegates from all sectors and levels of the industry. MGEITF is a charitable organisation which supports and develops new talent from all backgrounds through its two talent schemes, The Network and Fast Track. Approximately one third of the delegate fees go towards supporting these initiatives.

MGEITF Press Information/press accreditation:
Taylor Herring PR. Tel: + 44 (0)208 206 5151

EDINBURGH: Friday 28th August: A study to be presented at the Edinburgh Television Festival reveals that the TV industry in the UK is facing dramatic digital disruption and huge piracy problems just as the Music Industry has done over the last decade.

With increasing use of illegal file sharing sites offering individual programmes, whole series and feature films the industry could lose millions of pounds not only from lost sales, but from lost subscriptions and forsaken advertising revenues.

Key findings reveal that:

• Piracy has hit the recorded music industry hard with sales shrinking to 1994 levels and is spreading rampantly to TV and Film
• Popular UK show Top Gear is consistently one of the most illegally swapped shows, especially in the US.
• Charging for television programmes that had been free leads to a significant spike in illegal downloads.
• Millions of television viewers now access free, unauthorised versions of favourite shows and this is beginning to replace standard viewing hours.
• Top illegal TV swaps included Desperate Housewives, 24 and Prison Break whilst top films included Slumdog Millionaire and Twilight.

Will Page, Chief Economist PRS for Music said, “The music industry was the first to fully feel the force of digital disruption. It is important for the film and television industries to understand and learn from the experience of the music business and to look not just at possible lost value, but the opportunities that digital distribution can bring.”

Eric Garland Chief Executive of Big Champagne commented: “Millions of television viewers now access free, unauthorised versions of favourite shows at least some of the time. This is a socially acceptable form of casual piracy – and it is replacing viewing hours.”

Top TV Torrents

Heroes; 54,562,012
Lost; 51,151,396
24; 34,119,093
Prison Break; 29,283,591
House; 26,277,954
Fringe; 21,434,755
Desperate Housewives; 21,378,412
Grey’s Anatomy; 19,916,775
Gossip Girl; 19,706,870
Smallville; 19,598,999

The results will be presented at 9.30am Saturday at the Edinburgh International TV Festival. “What TV can learn from Music’s Mistakes” by Will Page, Chief Economist PRS for Music, Eric Garland Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Big Champagne Media Measurement & Peter Jenner President Emeritus, International Music Managers Forum.

Hosted by Rory Cellan-Jones, Industry Correspondent BBC News.

Press Contact: Barney.Hooper@prsformusic.com

20th August, 2009: London – As the recession bites, consumers would rather cut back on costly evenings out than reduce their spend on television, according to a new report published today by Deloitte/YouGov on behalf of the Media Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, which takes place between 28-30 August.

Research behind the report, titled ‘Television’s Got Talent’, found that consumers would rather give up eating out (43%), going to the cinema (38%) or the pub (38%) before reducing their television spend when asked which entertainment options they would consider cutting before their TV budget.

Younger people are less willing to cut back on socialising with 35% of 18-24 year-olds consider eating out less before reducing their spend on television, compared with 48% of 35-44 year-olds.

Mobile (19%), books (16%) and broadband (5%) faired better with fewer people opting to cut spend on these items over television.

Of viewers polled, 45% said they were watching TV for over an hour or more a day and, as a result of the recession, were watching more documentaries/factual (19%) and news (18%), compared to reality TV (5%) and chat shows (3%).

Jolyon Barker, head of Deloitte’s UK technology, media & telecommunications practice, said: “Consumers are tightening their belts and it is good news for the television industry that television is the entertainment of choice for the British family. Television, mobiles, books and broadband are the essential items the consumer cannot live without, even when times are tight.”

Click here for more information http://www.mgeitf.co.uk

Has compliance become the enemy within? Many programme makers are claiming overzealous compliance is killing creativity. But is it, and if so why now? The guidelines remain unchanged and are meant to be there to help us, so are they being interpreted properly? Have commissioners lost their bottle when it comes to being prepared to fight the flack that can come with innovative programming. Or are programme makers having to become more responsible?What do you think? We want to hear your thoughts from the inside and have created, in partnership with YouGov, a short survey asking for your views on compliance issues.

Click here to take the short survey

All responses will need to be submitted by Monday 24 August. The results will be kept confidential and will anonymously inform the ‘Is Compliance Restricting Creativity?’ session at this year’s MGEITF on Saturday 29 August.

LONDON August 3rd, 2009 – Peter Andre and Neville Hendricks Exec Producer of Katie & Peter: The Next Chapter Stateside will be offering their insight into the making of the popular fly-on-the-wall reality series at this year’s Media Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival which takes place August 28-30.

Can Associates TV has managed to create a successful TV franchise around celebrities Katie & Peter for ITV2. The Masterclass will look at the importance of matching the crew with the talent, the impact of being filmed 24/7 and where the franchise will go from here following the recent split.

Peter Andre made a name for himself in the Nineties as a singer-songwriter achieving eight top five singles in the UK alone, including four No. 1s. Peter’s most successful release to date came with the release of “Mysterious Girl” which sold over 2 million copies worldwide, making it the highest selling single of 1996. “Flava” and “I feel You” followed consecutively, both debuting at No. 1. Chart success soon led to major tours throughout Europe, UK, Asia and Australia. Peter’s final support tour was with Tina Turner before embarking on his own UK/European Tour living his lifelong dream.

After a break in his music career he was approached to appear on I’m a celebrity Get Me Out Of Here where he first met glamour model Jordan (aka Katie Price). The on-camera relationship not only boosted ratings for the series but reignited his music career – he re-released his breakthrough hit “Mysterious Girl” in 2004, which reached No.1.

Since then every stage of their relationship has been captured on reality TV – When Jordan Met Peter; Jordan & Peter: Laid Bare; Jordan & Peter: Marriage and Mayhem; Jordan & Peter: The Baby Diaries; Katie & Peter: The Next Chapter and Katie & Peter: The Next Chapter Stateside.

Peter is set to release his new single “Behind Closed Doors” on August 10.

Other key speakers already confirmed at MGEITF include The Chairman and Chief Executive of News Corporation, Europe and Asia, James Murdoch; Gerhard Zeiler, CEO of RTL Group; the BBC’s RTS award-winning Business Editor Robert Peston; Peter Fincham, Director of Television, ITV; Ofcom’s Ed Richards; Ashley Highfield, MD and VP, Consumer and Online, Microsoft UK; ITV stars Ant and Dec; The Wire creator, David Simon and actor Ross Kemp.

To view the full programme visit http://www.mgeitf.co.uk/home/mgeitf.aspx.

Press Enquiries: Taylor Herring PR 0208 206 5151

Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson is to deliver a masterclass at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival in August.

Clarkson’s session will see him and Top Gear executive producer Andy Wilman explore why the show is consistently BBC2’s highest-rating programme and talk about the recent publicity stunt in which Michael Schumacher was jokingly revealed as The Stig.

In other sessions, internet entrepreneurs including Kristian Segerstråle, chief executive and co-founder of Playfish, Patrick Walker, director of video partnerships at Google, and Peter Bazalgette, the former Endemol executive who is now a non-executive director of My Video Rights, will offer their insight into building commercial businesses on the web and explain how the TV industry needs to change to create a successful online business.

Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin, the writers, producers and directors of the critically lauded BBC1 sitcom Outnumbered, will reflect on 30 years in British comedy, from their early careers writing on shows such as Not The Nine O’Clock News and Who Dares Wins to Drop The Dead Donkey, in the session Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin: 30 Years of Polluting the Airways.

Meanwhile, the prospect of the BBC becoming the UK’s only public service TV news provider will be examined in That Was the News That Was, chaired by ITV newsreader Julie Etchingham, with panellists including Chris Birkett, executive editor at Sky News, and John Hardie, chief executive at ITN.

Britain’s complaining culture over issues of taste and decency will also be examined by comedians including Frank Skinner and Lucy Porter in a lighthearted session entitled Whose Whine Is It Anyway. Using the Ofcom complaints list as a guide, the panellists will work as an “alternative Ofcom committee” to uphold or reject the complaints.

The festival takes places between 28 and 30 August.

Have you been working in TV for 2-4 years? Are you full of ideas, passion and drive?

Then sign up for Fast Track to gain exclusive access and guidance from some of the biggest names in the TV buisness.

Fast Track – the talent initiative of MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival (MGEITF) – opens for applications and nominations today for its FREE event which runs alongside the TV Festival.

Applications close 12 June 2009.

Contact: hayley.dodd@taylorherring.com