TREVES TO DELIVER VLV CONFERENCE KEYNOTE

VANNI Treves, Chairman of Channel 4 Television, will give the keynote speech at the opening session of ‘Voice of the Listener and Viewer’ (VLV) autumn conference.
At the conference ‘Public Service Broadcasting: coming of age?’ to be held in London, Treves will speak on the 18th anniversary of the foundation of Channel 4 Television. He will look back at some of the channels landmark programmes and history, and look forward to their future role and mission as a public service broadcaster in the digital age.
During an afternoon session, a panel of distinguished media commentators will consider some of the issues and consumer concerns surrounding the Government’s expected White Paper on Regulating Communications. The White Paper is due to be published within the next two months, in preparation for a new Communications Bill early in the next Parliament which will cover the regulation of broadcasting, telecommunications and the internet.
Commenting, VLV chairman, Jocelyn Hay said: “Channel 4 has a unique place in the framework of British public service broadcasting. The channel is also widely admired abroad and many other countries would like to emulate its success. But not everyone realises that, although funded by advertising, Channel 4 is a non-profit-making, public corporation and it was only through the intervention of Lord Whitelaw that the channel was saved from privatisation in 1990. It could still be vulnerable to a Chancellor looking for a windfall. We look forward therefore to hearing from Mr Treves that Channel 4’s status as a public corporation is safe, and that its role and mission as a public service broadcaster will, if anything, be even stronger in future. We also look forward to discussing the coming White Paper and to alerting the public to the implications it will have for viewers, listeners and for British broadcasters.”
The Conference will take place on November 28 at Mabledon Place, Bloomsbury, London from 11.00am to 3.30pm. Tickets are priced at £65 each including lunch and £15 for students.
For further information and tickets contact Linda Forbeson on tel. 01474 352835.