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"Google&amp;#039;s executive chairman Dr Eric Schmidt is to give this year&amp;#039;s prestigious MacTaggart Lecture at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival.  In his speech, Schmidt will discuss the &amp;quot;impact of the internet revolution&amp;quot; and how the television industry can better engage with emerging technologies. This marks the first time that the lecture has been given by someone not principally involved in the TV industry. Since joining Google in 2001 as chief executive, Schmidt has helped grow the search engine firm into a technology world leader, introducing a divergent product range including the Android mobile platform and the Google TV service. In January, he became executive chairman in a management restructure involving Google co-founder Larry Page taking the reins at the company. Schmidt said that it was a &amp;quot;great honour&amp;quot; to be invited to deliver the MacTaggart Lecture, following media luminaries such as Dennis Potter, Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch. &amp;quot;I have always been a profound optimist about the potential for technology to improve people&amp;#039;s lives - though I am also a realist and understand it can be immensely disruptive in the process,&amp;quot; said Schmidt. &amp;quot;So I look forward to discussing the opportunities and challenges ahead for the TV industry in Edinburgh.&amp;quot; George Entwistle, the festival&amp;#039;s advisory chair, said: &amp;quot;Television was supposed to be dead and isn&amp;#039;t; on-demand was supposed to have triumphed and hasn&amp;#039;t. It&amp;#039;s the perfect MacTaggart for an industry at the convergence crossroads - the chairman of Google will give us a steer on the way ahead that no-one can afford to miss.&amp;quot; Executive chair of the festival Elaine Bedell added: &amp;quot;This is the first time that the prestigious MacTaggart has been given to someone not principally involved in television broadcast or production. &amp;quot;Eric Schmidt will give us a unique perspective on the future of the UK&amp;#039;s television industry, as well as an insight into the global ambitions of the internet-based giant Google.&amp;quot; The MacTaggart lecture is often a platform for controversial speeches delivered by high-profile industry figures, including News Corp&amp;#039;s James Murdoch using his lecture in 2009 to criticise the &amp;quot;chilling&amp;quot; size and scale of the BBC&amp;#039;s ambitions. At last year&amp;#039;s festival, BBC director general Mark Thompson used the platform to hit back at the BBC&amp;#039;s critics and lay out a passionate case for the corporation&amp;#039;s future. Eric Schmidt&amp;#039;s MacTaggart Lecture will take place at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival on August 26 at 6.45pm. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/media/news/a313888/googles-schmidt-to-give-mactaggart-lecture/>