The MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival is billed as Britain's most significant annual broadcasting industry event. It is held each August over the end-of-month Bank Holiday at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.

For the past 30 years the festival has attracted major names from across the world, bringing together movers and shakers from the global broadcasting industry with a comprehensive programme of lectures, previews, masterclasses, interviews and networking parties on offer. Luminaries giving masterclasses have included Matt Groening on The Simpsons, Sex and the City creator Darren Star on that show, the inimitable Ricky Gervais on The Office and David Chase on Sopranos.

If big names are one feature of the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, then controversial statement of views and opinions is another. No stranger to controversy, there's a tradition for delegates to tackle difficult media issues of the day head on.

Examples include Brian Hanrahan challenging military censorship in the Falklands war, Dennis Potter attacking the BBC governors, David Baddiel hitting out at heavy TV censorship and regulation and Sir John Harvey Jones pulling no punches in his address on the 'State of the Nation' in the independent broadcasting industry.

So much more than just a platform to bemoan the maladies of broadcasting, the festival is a melting pot for ideas and initiatives, action and aquaintence, sharing of best practice and discussion of industry issues. It's attended by over 1,600 UK and international delegates across the industry spectrum - broadcasters in all TV media, production companies, distributors, new media companies and television support services.

To find out more about the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, please call + 44 (0) 020 7430 1333 or visit the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival website.