The 50 +3 Forum analyzes the future of television after the blackout

The fourth edition of the television trends forum will address the situation of television in the digital environment. It will take place from August 26 to 28, 2009 at the Magdalena Palace in Santander. Prominent specialists and network executives will debate the changes that are coming.

For the fourth consecutive year, the Foundation for Audiovisual Research organizes, with the support of the Menéndez Pelayo International University, the Television Trends Forum 50+3 Forum. On this occasion the debate will focus on the future of television after the end of analogue television, which in Spain is scheduled to happen on April 10, 2010.

What will television be like once the definitive analogue switch-off occurs and the digitalization process is completed? That is the question that television professionals and experts from around the world have been seeking to answer for years. The end of analog television will be a pivotal moment in the history of this means of communication. For this reason, the 50 +3 Television Trends Forum will be dedicated entirely to addressing this issue. This intention is clearly expressed in the motto of the meeting, which asks the following question: “And at the end of the blackout, what television?”

In this way, Foro 50 +3 remains faithful to the spirit with which it was born in 2006, when 50 years of TV in Spain were celebrated. From that first moment the objective has always been to analyze television in its entirety and variants. For this reason, those who are interested in the knowledge and analysis of television as a social and economic institution as well as a means of communication and entertainment will find in Foro 50+3 a diagnosis that is as close as possible to the panorama that national television will show the day after the analog blackout. Different specialists, authorities and executives from national television channels and entities linked to the audiovisual sector will present their vision on the most relevant aspects of the current and future panorama.

What will the channels' programming schedule be like the day after the blackout? How will the new audiovisual panorama affect the production of fiction, reality shows and news? How will television evolve over the Internet? And the relationship between cinema and television? How will the new scenario influence independent producers? How will the elimination of advertising affect public television? During the three days that the 50+3 Forum will last, an attempt will be made to answer these and other questions. The meeting will also bring together some of the top representatives of the national and regional chains, who will be invited to explain the immediate plans of their respective companies and address other matters of interest.

The current moment that defines the television medium is uncertain as well as exciting. And as has been happening since its first edition in 2006, Forum 50 +3 will be there as a space for reflection and meeting between those who make and think about television.

Participants and screenings

Among the team of experts and managers of the highest level who will participate in the 50 +3 Forum, the following stand out: Manuel Campo Vidal (President of the Television Academy), Eduardo García Matilla (Multimedia Corporation), Pedro Pérez (president of FAPAE), Mario García de Castro (Rey Juan Carlos University), Susana Ortega (director of research, GECA), Ignasi Guardans (director of the ICAA), Héctor Milla (director of Balzac Televisión), David Martínez (fiction director, RTVE), Luis Jiménez Guerrero (Partner Deloitte Spain) and Mariola Cubells (journalist).

As every year, Foro 50 +3 includes two screening sessions with the selection of the most innovative programs from international television by Francesc Escribano (content director, Notro TV) and Caroline Servy (General Director, The Wit).

Forum 50 +3 will take place on August 26, 27 and 28 at the Palacio de la Magdalena in Santander. This is a joint initiative of the Foundation for Audiovisual Research and the Menéndez Pelayo International University. It has the main sponsorship of Abertis Telecom, the associated sponsorship of IEC, and the collaboration of the Academy of Television Sciences and Arts, FAPAE, RTVE, Telecinco, Antena 3, laSexta, Cuatro, FORTA and the Mercat Audiovisual de Catalunya.