The Edinburgh Television Festival will celebrate British broadcasting from Manchester, starting in the summer of 2027, organizers said on Tuesday.
The decision to move follows a strategic review of the annual TV festival due to rising costs to event organizers and delegates attending the popular event in expensive Edinburgh, the host city for nearly 50 years.
Campbell Glennie, chief executive of the TV Festival and the Television Foundation, a charity aiming to promote inclusion, access and talent development in the UK TV industry, said in a statement: “Greater Manchester has delivered a vision for the festival that combines real creative ambition and future-facing energy with practical accessibility and affordability for delegates. This means we can radically reduce the costs associated with attending the festival as well as the cost of tickets.”
Manchester is seen to have more affordable hotel rooms than Edinburgh, and is a popular destination for tourists traveling around the UK. The TV Festival also aims to ensure continued access for delegates who cannot afford to travel to the event in Scotland.
Fatima Salaria, chair of the TV Festival’s board, said in another statement that the move to Manchester aims to “balance legacy with future opportunities. The festival now needs the right conditions, support and momentum for its next chapter, where it can have the strongest opportunity to grow and serve the broader part of the industry. For the board, that place was Greater Manchester.”
The Edinburgh Television Festival became famous for its keynote address, the James McTaggart Memorial Lecture. This year’s keynote will be delivered by Pedro Pena, Vice President of YouTube EMEA, who oversees the fast-growing digital platform’s business, creators and content ecosystem across EMEA.
Past speakers include James Graham, James Harding, Michaela Coel, Dorothy Byrne, Ted Turner, Armando Iannucci, Rupert Murdoch, Denis Potter, Jon Snow, Elizabeth Murdoch, David Olusoga, Louis Theroux, Jack Thorne, and Emilie Maitlis.
