London, Monday 30^th January, 2012: Elisabeth Murdoch, Chairman and CEO of Shine Group, will give this year’s MacTaggart Lecture at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, it was confirmed today.

Now in its 37^th year, for the first time the Festival will take place from Thursday to Saturday, with dates confirmed as 23^rd to 25^th August 2012.

The sessions lineup will include a masterclass on one of this year’s most talked about series, BBC One drama Sherlock, with appearances from show creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gattis and producer Sue Vertue. Further sessions will be announced in due course.

The prestigious MacTaggart Lecture always attracts major names from both UK and international broadcasting, and is known for producing controversial and agenda-setting speeches. Past MacTaggart speakers include Eric Schmidt, Mark Thompson, James Murdoch, Dennis Potter, Michael Grade, Verity Lambert, Ted Turner, Greg Dyke, David Liddiment, Peter Fincham, Charles Allen, Jeremy Paxman, John Mortimer and Rupert Murdoch.

Elisabeth Murdoch comments: “To be invited to deliver the MacTaggart lecture is a great honour and one I am delighted to accept. At such an incredibly exciting time for our ever changing industry it is a privilege to be entrusted with its most prestigious platform to address some of the countless challenges, extraordinary opportunities and profound questions that we collectively face. I am very much looking forward to it.”   

Advisory Chair of the Festival, Kenton Allen, comments: “Elisabeth is one of the foremost creative leaders in our business and she promises to give us a fascinating insight into what the future may hold for content creators. She is the first woman to give the MacTaggart in 16 years and the third member of the Murdoch family to give the speech. Both these facts, will I’m sure, give us a highly memorable launch pad for the 2012 festival. Together with a much more user friendly Thursday – Saturday schedule and the team behind Sherlock spilling the beans behind the drama of the year it’s already shaping up to be a very special event.”

Executive Chair of the Festival, Elaine Bedell, comments: “I’m very pleased in my second year as Executive Chair to be able to announce the first female MacTaggart lecturer for 16 years – and for it to be Elisabeth Murdoch, who is indisputably a major figure and a leading creative leader in the television community.   Liz has been both a broadcaster and a producer, has a major footprint in the States and across Europe, as well as the UK, and is uniquely placed to offer a broad,  insightful, and thoroughly well-connected appraisal of the many changes facing the media industry.”

Since founding Shine in 2001, Elisabeth Murdoch has steered its growth from a single multi-genre independent to an internationally renowned content group responsible some of the most respected and prolific production companies in the worlds of scripted and non-scripted television. Shine Group companies now number 27 across Europe, the USA and Australasia, and are responsible for some of the world’s best loved and travelled television programmes as well as encompassing international distribution, film production, social gaming and online broadcasting.

Elisabeth began her career in television at the Nine Network in Australia as a researcher in 1990, later joining Fox Television in Los Angeles as Programme and Promotion Manager for seven stations. She then went to the FX Cable Network as Director of Acquisitions. In 1995, she started her own company, EP Communications, managing two dominant NBC affiliate television stations KSBW-TV and KSB-TV. The stations won one national and five Californian Emmy Awards as well as the 1995 Peabody Award for Broadcast Excellence. Prior to setting up Shine, Elisabeth joined British Sky Broadcasting as General Manager before rising to Managing Director, Sky Networks with overall responsibility for Sky’s programming business, group consumer marketing and its news, film and entertainment channels. In 2008 Elisabeth was appointed a Tate Trustee and a Director of the UK Film Council.

Visit www.mgeitf.co.uk to register now. Follow the Festival at on @edinburghtvfest

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Entwistle, who spoke in this year’s MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival ‘Build Your Own BBC’ session, has been involved with the Festival in previous years. He succeeded Deborah Turness after the 35th annual Festival this year.

Entwistle is responsible for delivering the Knowledge strategy across the BBC on TV and on the web, from landmark series to documentaries and standalone web products; across specialisms from arts to history, natural history, business, science and religion; to consumer journalism and contemporary factual.

Entwistle said: “I’m really looking forward to stepping up and taking on the role as Advisory Chair. I think Deborah did a brilliant job this year, and I relish the prospect of getting stuck in and making 2011’s Festival the best it can be.”

Elaine Bedell, MGEITF Executive Chair said: “I’m very pleased George has accepted the role…I know that he will deliver a brilliant, headline-grabbing Festival.”

MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival takes place 26 – 28 August 2011. For further details visit www.mgeitf.co.uk

The singer-songwriters who recently completed a co-headlining tour together have two nominations apiece and will compete against the very best in British songwriting and composing talent when the awards take place at London’s Grosvenor House on the 20th May.

Lily Allen, along with her co-writer Greg Kurstin, has been nominated twice for her hit song, The Fear, in the categories ‘Best Song Musically and Lyrically’, an award won last year by Elbow’s One Day Like This, and for the ‘PRS for Music Most Performed Work’ award. Lily’s recent tour co-headliner, Dizzee Rascal, has also been nominated twice for Best Contemporary Song for his number one hit single Bonkers, co-written with Armand Van Helden, and for the ‘Album Award’ for the platinum selling Tongue N’ Cheek which he wrote together with Nicholas Detnon.

Nick Hemming, The Leisure Society’s songwriter and guitarist who gained a nomination in 2009 as an unpublished writer for the ‘Best Song Musically and Lyrically’ has received a further nomination for the 2010 awards. Save It For Someone Who Cares – nominated in the ‘Best Song Musically and Lyrically’ category, is taken from the group’s self produced debut album, The Sleeper, which received lavish critical praise on its release, being named a Rough Trade album of 2009 and the iTunes Singer/Songwriter Album of 2009.

Neil Hannon, who is best known for fronting The Divine Comedy, is nominated for the Album Award alongside Thomas Walsh from Pugwash for their cricket inspired work, The Duckworth Lewis Method. Their eponymous album is steeped in the love of cricket and pop and was released in July 2009, a few days before the start of the 2009 Ashes series.

Neil Hannon and Thomas Walsh commented “We, the Duckworth Lewis Method, are politely jubilant to be nominated in the best album category of this year’s Ivor Novello Awards. What joy! What honour! Our hippopotomously titled debut album really was as fun to make as it sounds. And it is to the eternal credit of this august, nay, July institution that ‘a record about cricket’ should be afforded the same opportunities as its less niche compatriots.”

Fledgling band Patch William, a London based four piece who met whilst studying at Bristol University, will fight it out for the ‘Best Song Musically and Lyrically’ award alongside Nick Hemming and Lily Allen. The band, who have been championed on Twitter by Stephen Fry, have been nominated for their single The Last Bus, taken from their critically acclaimed debut album which was exclusively released through iTunes.

Patch William commented “”We are a relatively unknown band on an independent label. When we recently signed with Chrysalis Music, we looked starry-eyed at the two Ivor Novello statues at the entrance. Not in our wildest dreams did we imagine that we’d be nominated for ‘Best Song Musically and Lyrically’, WOW”!

The 2010 awards are also shaping up to be a particularly good year for women song writers and composers with several nominations across the categories, including a nomination for acclaimed film composer, Hélène Muddiman in the ‘Best Original Film Score’ category. Hélène, nominated for the 2009 film Skin, is the first woman to be included in the category for 12 years.

To reflect the changing world of music, BASCA have also introduced a new category for the 55th Ivor Novello Awards, Best Original Video Game Score. The first nominations in this category come from Empire: Total War, Killzone 2 and Savage Moon: Waldgeist.

Commenting on the new category, Mark Fishlock, BASCA director and member of The Ivors Committee, comments: “The Ivors has always sought to reflect the ever-changing world of songwriting and composing. The video games market has matured beyond recognition and big budget orchestral scores are regularly being commissioned. Writing music for games also requires a number of specialist skills compared with conventional film scoring, such as non-linear and multi-layered composition. This is a very exciting development and one which hopefully will be fully embraced by the rapidly growing games world.”

Patrick Rackow, Chief Executive of BASCA comments ““The strength and diversity of the works nominated this year is a testament to the talent and range of British music writers. It’s great to see a mix of established and new writers, and I would like to thank this year’s judges for all of their hard work”

Ellis Rich, Chairman of PRS for Music says “Every year the Ivors celebrates the best of UK song writing talent and it is wonderful to see some new names in this year’s mix. Our sponsorship of the awards is one of the oldest partnerships in the music industry and we’re delighted to support this highlight of the musical year once again.”

Held at the Grosvenor House on Thursday 20th May 2010, The Ivors are presented by BASCA in association with PRS for Music, and continue to be acknowledged as one of the most coveted awards in the industry. Previous winners include Sir Paul McCartney, Madonna, David Bowie, Amy Winehouse, Sting, Annie Lennox and Radiohead.

Press Contact: Taylor Herring PR +44 208 206 5151

Check out this year’s nominees on itunes

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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

MySpace Music today launches a brand new application that enables music fans to star alongside some of the biggest names in the worlds of pop, hip-hop, dance, indie and rock in a range of exclusive personalised videos.

The application, which is accessible HERE, works by seamlessly inserting fans’ photos into the videos, each of which has been filmed exclusively for MySpace by the eight artists. The completed clips can then be easily shared via MySpace, email, Twitter, or posted to the user’s Facebook profile. The artists have all been brought on board to represent a range of genres that reflect the diverse wealth of music content now available on MySpace Music.

The cream of current UK music talent is represented, with N-DUBZ, Pixie Lott, Chipmunk, Florence and the Machine and Lostprophets all creating unique video offerings. Fans are able to join Florence in a photoshoot, appearing alongside her own Polaroid snaps; or spend a day hanging with Pixie Lott at a picnic in the park with friends; or even hit the dancefloor at a roller-disco with Chipmunk. The international artists have also pulled out all the stops, with 50 Cent’s video bringing his fans right into his apartment to take pride of place on his wall, while Alicia Keys offers up a personal musical tribute, and David Guetta invites fans into an impromptu party in a record store, alongside music luminaries Danny Rampling and Peter Hook.

The application is the latest development from MySpace Music, a new service that launched in December 2009, offering an unrivalled catalogue of music and video to stream for free without interruption. The inspiration behind the application came from MySpace’s ongoing commitment to bringing artists and fans closer together than anywhere else. The application was created by top London advertising agency BBH and leading production companies Pulse Films. Post production came from Absolute Post and digital partner Domani Studios in New York.

The full list of videos with which fans can interact is as follows:

 Alicia Keys – the talented diva sings a song just for you – with your picture pride of place

 50 Cent – the US rap icon has a favourite new piece of art – you!

 Florence and the Machine – join Florence on a photoshoot and appear amongst the Polaroid snaps

 N-DUBZ – become the band’s number one fan, as they admire your photo

 Chipmunk – the star tears up the dancefloor at a roller-disco, then reveals he keeps your picture close to his heart

 Lostprophets – a sneak peek into a rock’n’roll tattoo session, with a shrine built especially for you

 Pixie Lott – a chance to hang out with Pixie for a picnic in the sun – she’s got her sights on you

 David Guetta – the superstar DJ spins some tunes, and you’re the face of the party

Sophie Rouse, MySpace’s Head of Campaigns, said, “MySpace allows fans to connect with their favourite artists in a genuinely immersive and personal way. To mark the launch of MySpace Music we wanted to bring to life this special relationship, giving fans the chance to ‘star’ in a film with their favourite acts and share it with their friends. All the artists involved thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to thank their fans in this way and the results are hugely entertaining.”

Striking a series of fun and flirty poses in a vintage fairground, the fashionista shows off Miss Ultimo’s dazzling new designs for Christmas. Packed with pretty frills and eye-popping brights, the new collection is inspired by vintage carnivals and candy shops and is available from just £8.00. The latest range features eight designs available in sizes 32A-38DD.

Peaches Geldof said; “Working for the second time with Miss Ultimo has been a pleasure. The underwear fits perfectly and creates curves in all the right places. I’m honoured to be chosen to represent a healthy body image and what better way than with Miss Ultimo’s designs, which are sexy, young and quirky. Clothes are fun but sometimes knowing you’ve got some awesome underwear underneath is better!”

Michelle Mone, creator of Miss Ultimo, said; “Peaches epitomizes everything about the Miss Ultimo brand; she is fun, stylish, experimental and confident and comfortable in her own skin. Everything a young woman should be!

“The new Miss Ultimo collection is perfect for Christmas. It strikes the perfect balance between girly and sexy and delivers everything quality lingerie should do in terms of style comfort and fit. We’re delighted to have Peaches back for Miss Ultimo’s Christmas campaign; she looks gorgeous in the new designs and did a fantastic job.”

Designs from the latest collection include ‘Lippy’, trimmed with a bold scarlet guipure and patterned with hot pink and sherbet lemon lips. ‘Pop Art’ sparkles from every direction with its shades of pinks and cute butterfly pattern, whilst ‘Polly Anna’ is super-sweet with its pretty candy stripes and shades of bubblegum blues, pinks and white.

Miss Ultimo is dedicated to delivering gorgeous lingerie that fuses stylish and funky looks with a fabulous fit. Inside each cup you will also find the Miss Ultimo ‘signature’; an embossed lady carved from the cup to provide comfort, support and uplift.

Other designs from the new range include ‘Chain’ in two colourways (lime and hot pink), ‘Florida’, ‘Fizz Bomb’ and ‘Blue Spot’. The new Miss Ultimo Christmas 2009 collection launches in Debenhams stores and online on Tuesday 1st December.