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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business

Edinburgh TV Festival, Bake Off, BBC stars' pay

Life of Vice … Vice founder Shane Smith predicted a media ‘bloodbath’ in this year’s MacTaggart lecture.
Life of Vice … Vice founder Shane Smith predicted a media ‘bloodbath’ in this year’s MacTaggart lecture. Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Guardian

The big story

Shane Smith is known for his bombast, and his MacTaggart lecture at this year’s Edinburgh TV Festival lived up to that reputation. Amid asides and quips about his penchant for acid being responsible for commissioning decisions, he presented a big-picture narrative that places Vice at the forefront of a sea change in media.

The central pitch was that baby boomers are losing their grip on media as a millennial generation interested in issues such as LGBT rights and income inequality rejects most of what the established media produces and the way they distribute it. That he predicts, will lead to a frenzy of consolidation among the world’s big media companies as they struggle to catch up.

Though his talk was inevitably an attempt at self-aggrandisement, his suggestion that it is the media’s neglect of the issues that young people find important, and not the fecklessness of youth, is what makes it hard for traditional media to reach millennials, is food for thought.

MediaGuardian’s top stories

Adverse conditions … Jeremy Clarkson’s firing from Top Gear and the departure of James May and Richard Hammond was the pinnacle of ‘a perfect storm’ that was building between the show and the BBC, Andy Wilman has said.
Adverse conditions … Jeremy Clarkson’s firing from Top Gear and the departure of James May and Richard Hammond was the pinnacle of ‘a perfect storm’ that was building between the show and the BBC, Andy Wilman has said. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA

Top Gear cast change due to ‘perfect storm’, says former producer

Mainstream media is failing audience by colluding with Trump, says Vice founder

BBC TV chief: not in licence fee payers’ interest to reveal stars’ pay

The Great British Bake Off review – blood, innuendo and drizzle cake

Lord Cashman to reprise EastEnders role after 30 years

Thandie Newton to star in Line of Duty series four

Best of the rest

And then there were more … the BBC is to produce seven more Agatha Christie adaptations in teh wake of And Then There Were None.
And then there were more … the BBC is to produce seven more Agatha Christie adaptations in teh wake of And Then There Were None. Photograph: Robert Viglasky/BBC/Mammoth Screen/Robert Viglasky

BBC strikes deal to produce seven Agatha Christie adaptations over the next four years (Broadcast, £)

New York Times is expanding to Australia and Canada, according to report (NiemanLab)

BuzzFeed to separate into news and entertainment units (FT, £)

Jay Hunt renews Channel 4 privatisation fears (Broadcast, £)

Lifetime to make Britney Spears TV biopic starring Natasha Bassett (Vanity Fair)

The Departed TV series in the works at Amazon (Hollywood Reporter)

And finally...

In case you hadn’t noticed, The Great British Bake Off returned to BBC1 last night. There were no soggy bottoms, but Twitter naturally went into overdrive over every dollop of innuendo.

Tom’s gin cake also proved a hit, with Mary Berry showing her approval.

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