MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival

The London media's mover and shakers descend on Edinburgh for three days for this annual get-together. While there generally is a light-hearted festive atmosphere, this is primarily an industry event, providing an opportunity for delegates to discuss where UK television is heading and to hear from industry heads and new media pundits what issues are coming to the fore.

There are numerous talks and seminars on subjects such as reality television, sex on the small screen, how the internet is changing the broadcasting industry landscape, and how programme-makers should position themselves when tackling hot issues of the day.

Those looking for that elusive break to get into television might find it at the free television festival scheme The Network.

As well as the lesser well kent power-brokers in suits, there's usually quite a few familiar faces from tellyland among the 2,000 or so delegates, with some of the events broadcast. For example, Jeremy Paxman closed the 2007 festival by quizzing two teams of television execs for a media-orientated University Challenge.

MacTaggart Lecture

The keynote address is the MacTaggart Lecture and is closely watched by world media as it can augur new insights into the direction of the media world.

In 2009, James Murdoch, arguing the case for a subscription-based news business model, attacked the publicly funded BBC and its "expansion of state-sponsored journalism". On the other side of the coin, Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman in his 2007 MacTaggart Lecture argued that the BBC needs to concentrate more funding on news to uphold journalism standards