Concerns over future of quality television

May 24 2008 by Iain Laing, The Journal

THE man who helped bring Roland Rat to the small screen visited the region yesterday to give his take on the future of the television industry.

Former BBC director general Greg Dyke landed in the North East yesterday for the final day of the Thinking Digital conference at The Sage Gateshead.

Mr Dyke, who resigned from his post at the helm of the BBC in the wake of the Hutton report into its coverage of the run-up to the Iraq war, spoke candidly about the state of the British TV industry.

The current chairman of the British Film Institute also expressed concern over the changing face of journalism in light of the internet’s rapid development. He said: “The world is changing pretty fast. One thing I’m not sure about in the future is who pays for good journalism, who pays for research. In our lifetime it was paid for by advertising revenue, by the BBC and ITV.

“I’m not sure about who pays for that in the future, particularly as the commercial sector gets squeezed more and more. Most people have a multi-channel TV on Freeview or Sky. The problem is going to be that it looks good but the test is who can afford to make the decent productions.”

Meanwhile, representatives from telecommunications heavyweights Orange, Motorola and Nokia came together to discuss the next generation of mobile technology. The telecoms experts explained why internet technology on mobile phones is now truly set to take off, unlike the “false dawn” of the late Nineties.

Vitesh Patel, EMEA general manager for products at Motorola, said: “The collaboration was there but the stars didn’t align. It was horrible, like being in an episode of Star Trek knowing that it wasn’t real.

“It’s a second chance for everyone to deliver on their promises from the nineties that you could have the full internet on your phone.”

Also in attendance at the event was Aubrey de Grey – a groundbreaking scientist who believes that man will one-day live to the age of 1,000.

Entrepreneur and former Dragons’ Den panelist Doug Richard closed the event – which attracted around 300 people – with a session on successful leadership.