A bit of fun promised at TV fest

ON the back of an announcement, two days ago, that television broadcaster, Jeremy Paxman, is to present the festival’s main speech – the MacTaggart Lecture – a galaxy of the industry’s great ‘n’ good is now being unveiled.

Among the participants will be the founder of Joost and co-founder of Skype, Janus Friis, presenting the inaugural Futureview lecture. He will be examining the future of internet TV.

Fresh from the success of executive producing Ugly Betty, Ben Silverman will be flying in to give a masterclass. Journalist and Orange Prize for Fiction winner, Lionel Shriver, will give a keynote lecture, ‘We Need to Talk about TV’.

The award-winning author of ‘We Need to Talk about Kevin’ will discuss television and violence.

Channel 4’s chief executive, Andy Duncan, will take part in a major session on Channel 4 on its 25th birthday, which will include discussion of Big Brother.

And back to a bit of fun, TV’s ‘brightest boys and girls’ will go head-to-head in a one-off, live edition of University Challenge, hosted by Paxman.

The festival is taking place in late August and is expected to attract 2,000 delegates.

For more information, visit www.mgeitf.co.uk