Building Bridges To The Future In Cambridge

The Royal Television Society Cambridge Convention opens today. Loads of interesting sessions between the back slapping and palm fondling.

Dubbed - ‘End Game - Winner and Losers in the Digital Decade’ - the shindig aims to predict how the UK TV market will look in 2010 (editor - American?). I suspect almost everyone speaking will be putting themselves squarely in the winners enclosure on this one.

Fortunately the dynamic duo - Charles Allen and Michael Green - have agreed to take part in a final (perhaps literally) session. I doubt these two could predict what was showing on their own television channels next week. So expect a laugh when they suggest what the broadcasting landscape will look like in a few years time.

Ofcom’s big day comes on Friday in an imaginatively (this is getting lame) titled session - ‘Get Carter’. Tim Gardam will endeavour to discover how Stephen Carter intends to balance Ofcom’s responsibilities to the citizen with those of a competition regulator. It will be interesting to see whether Carter has finally moved past his advertising rhetoric and says something of substance. Fingers crossed.

Ofcom are also sponsoring the pre-amble dinner drinks before the ‘Walt Disney Dinner’. Classy stuff. To end the day there is an ITV Night Cap - David Elstein is not invited.

So it should be fun. We are very jealous not to be going and helping ourselves to some food and wine, whilst meeting some genuinely influential and interesting people. Unfortunately the price tag - �1,350 + VAT (�236.25) = �1,586.25 - would have bust the petty cash box here. But the wonderful Steve Bowbrick has indicated on his blog that he will be there so check out the site for potential reports.