The Year Ahead

MediaTel’s must-see ‘The Year Ahead’ event did not disappoint last week. Our leading Newsline commentator Raymond Snoddy was joined on stage by the BBC’s Torin Douglas to review 2011 and look at the year ahead.

We were joined by around 125 media executives, including representatives from agencies, media owners and researchers – as well as many others.

The duo answered questions from a number of delegates – Andrew Walmsley, Greg Grimmer, James Smythe and Henry Arkell to name a few – and discussed the main news stories from the past year. There was lots on the Leveson inquiry and the News International phone-hacking scandal, of course, but also a mention of a possible Sun on Sunday and how social media affects journalism.

Snoddy and Douglas also gave their views on Richard Desmond and regulation; Sky News being worthless; Johnston Press’ share price; iPads and paywalls; great TV drama (including Downton); connected TV, social TV and second-screens, plus the long-awaited YouView; who will secure the Premiership TV rights; the possibilities surrounding the mobile wallet; and the Olympics… as you’d expect!

But ssshhhh, that is enough of that – the whole event was held under the Chatham House Rule.

If you missed it, you better make sure you are on the guest list next year! In the meantime, here are a few pictures to give you an idea of how the afternoon unfolded…

To see what other events MediaTel Group are running this year, check out our events site.