THE Edinburgh International Television Festival is in town, and – as tradition dictates – the finale to day one is the keynote speech, the MacTaggart Lecture.
Yesterday evening’s lecture was delivered by the chief executive of Channel 4, David Abraham – as The Scotsman says, here, the first Channel 4 person to give the lecture since Mark Thompson 12 years ago.
His speech can be read, in full, here.
The Scotsman’s coverage begins: “The chief executive of Channel Four has used the keynote address of the Edinburgh Television Festival to call on the UK government to strengthen and update public service broadcasting regulations.”
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ON the bill for the remainder of today: Danny Cohen (director of television, BBC), Peter Fincham (director of television, channels and online, ITV), Jay Hunt (chief creative officer, Channel 4), Stuart Murphy (director, entertainment channels, Sky), Ben Frow (director of programmes, Channel 5), Gary Lineker (presenter, Match of the Day, etc), Tessa Ross (head of Film4), Charlotte Moore (controller, BBC One), etc, etc.
And the day formally concludes with the Edinburgh TV Awards – including Channel of the Year – compered by comedian, John Bishop.
Read more, here.
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THE festival is often used by TV channels to publicise their upcoming shows. And the BBC yesterday issued a trio of programme-related announcements…
For announcements from the BBC Two Controller, Kim Shillinglaw, go here.
For announcements from Sam Bickley, Channel editor, BBC Three, go here.
For announcements from BBC Four Channel editor, Cassian Harrison, go here. And read The Guardian’s report (here) of The Bridge returning to BBC Four screens and of news of a new Belgian thriller.
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TERRY Murden, the business editor at The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday, has announced he has applied to appeal a recent conviction, following claims of harrassment of a PR executive.
Murden revealed his plans in a media release posted here, on allmediascotland.com.
On Monday – as noted, here – he was fined £500 and had a non-harrassment order imposed on him.
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A PHOTOGRAPH – by Stuart Nicol – on page eight of The Herald newspaper marks the end of the long-running BBC One drama, Waterloo Road, which a couple of years ago began being made in Greenock (as reported here, on allmediascotland.com).
Begins digitalspy.co.uk (here): “Waterloo Road’s cast and crew will film the show’s final scenes today (August 22).
“The popular school drama has been running since 2006, but BBC One has decided not to commission any further series.
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AN annual awards competition – celebrating broadcasting, digital, etc among the ‘Celtic’ nations and regions – is soon to begin accepting entries, ahead of its partner festival taking place in Inverness next year.
The Celtic Media Awards – part of the Celtic Media Festival – will be accepting entries from the eighth of next month.
Read more, here.
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BEGINS a media announcement from newspapers, magazines and comics publisher, DC Thomson: “[Our] weekly women’s magazine, The People’s Friend, is to launch a partnership with leading charities that form the Age UK network: Age Cymru, Age NI, Age Scotland and Age UK.
“The joint venture will see a range of cross promotional activity taking place which includes copies of The People’s Friend magazine being stocked in the charities’ shops.”
Read more, here.
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BEGINS a STV media release (here): “STV has launched a commercial campaign to engage Glasgow businesses with the city’s new TV channel, STV Glasgow.
“The ‘Gies a shout’ campaign, designed by STV Creative, is fully integrated across all platforms from Friday 22nd until Monday 25th August and will include spot ads on STV West and STV Glasgow plus a digital site takeover. The campaign will be supported by direct mail and an incentivised referral campaign.”
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