Search engine executive chairman is first leading figure from a technology company to deliver the speech
For the first time in its 35-year history, the MacTaggart lecture at this year's MediaGuardian Edinburgh international television festival is to be delivered by a leading figure from a technology company, Google's Eric Schmidt.
In a sign of the growing importance of digital media and the quickening pace of convergence between traditional broadcasting and online, Schmidt will talk to an audience of TV executives and programme-makers about the impact of the internet revolution and how their industry can engage with new technologies.
"This is the first time that the prestigious MacTaggart has been given by someone not principally involved in television broadcast or production," said Elaine Bedell, executive chair of the festival.
It will be a symbolic moment for the Edinburgh event, where every August bank holiday since 1976 leading TV industry figures have gathered to debate key developments and emerging trends.
The MacTaggart lecture, delivered on the Friday night at the start of the festival – 26 August this year – traditionally sets the tone for the weekend. From the 1970s to the early 90s, the MacTaggart was dominated by creative figures, including the writers John Mortimer and Dennis Potter and the director John Schlesinger.
Since then the keynote speech has become more a platform for TV executives, including the BBC director generals John Birt and Greg Dyke. Current DG Mark Thompson gave last year's MacTaggart; in 2009 it was delivered by News Corporation's James Murdoch, 20 years after his father, Rupert, used the lecture to rail against Britain's complacent broadcasting elite.
At recent festivals, individual sessions have addressed how the industry should deal with the impact of the internet and the fragmentation of viewing across hundreds of digital channels. However, Schmidt's MacTaggart will put the issue of digital technology front and centre at this year's event.
"I have always been a profound optimist about the potential for technology to improve people's lives – though I am also a realist and understand it can be immensely disruptive in the process," said Schmidt, Google's executive chairman.
Google has been at the forefront of this disruption to traditional advertising-funded print and TV businesses. In 2010 it accounted for nearly 60% of a UK paid-for online search market worth £2.35bn. Last year UK advertisers spent more than £4bn online in total, including search, compared with about £3.5bn on TV advertising.
Perhaps the most direct challenge to traditional television businesses comes from the growth of online video viewing, where Google has also been to the fore through ownership of YouTube – which this year joins the Guardian as joint headline sponsor of the TV festival. The explosion in the popularity of watching video online over the past five years, led by YouTube, has fuelled predictions of the death of traditional TV channels.
However, traditional TV has proved resilient, with UK viewing hitting record levels in 2010. This has been attributed to factors including the continuing popularity of live "event TV" programming, such as ITV's the X Factor, and the ever expanding choice of channels available to digital TV viewers.
Broadcasters have been successfully embracing digital technology, with personal video recorders such as Sky+ making it easier for viewers to record and watch their favourite shows whenever they like, leading to growth in so-called timeshift viewing.
Broadcasters have also launched their own on-demand services, such as the BBC iPlayer, allowing viewers to watch shows on their computers, smartphones and other mobile devices.
The volume of online viewing is still relatively small compared with traditional channels, but is forecast to grow and have a significant impact on the TV industry. In the US, the video-on-demand subscription service Netflix has become a significant player in online TV and is moving into original programming, recently signing a deal to fund Kevin Spacey's new version of House of Cards.
Google is also repositioning YouTube, developing it from a website visited mainly to watch user-generated videos of cute kids and animals to one that offers an increasing range of full-length TV shows and live streaming and highlights of sporting events such as the IPL cricket competition.
George Entwistle, TV festival advisory chair, responsible for the 2011 programme, said: "Television was supposed to be dead and isn't, on-demand was supposed to have triumphed and hasn't. It's the perfect MacTaggart for an industry at the convergence crossroads – the chairman of Google will give us a steer on the way ahead."