Business Channel 2006-09-01&03

The 2006 Edinburgh TV Festival is getting underway with a good humor spoof¹ episode of the popular Apprentice² program, casting media executives in the world of contestants³. Judging by the response, it's a hit.

But you only need to survey the schedule to get the distinct sense that the overall mood here is not quite so jovial⁴. For instance, there's a panel on ways that program makers⁵ can win back the young audience, tellingly entitled "I'd rather have a wank". There's another discussion about the tendency to make ever more extreme programs, eh, that's called "Boy With an Arse for a Face", that's not to mention another talk called Why I Hate Television. Of course it's not all pessimism⁶ here, but this is very much a snapshot of an industry in transition.

Alison Sharman is an Advisory⁷ Chair at the festival and ITV director.

We've entered the digital age, all the big, big organizations, the BBC, ITV, Multi Tele, etc. are rolling out their digital strategies, so really, this was about looking at those strategies, eh, dissecting⁸ them, and kind of pulling the whole digital world apart. Eh, so consumers now consume content in incredibly different ways.

ITV's controller of emerging technologies Simon Fell illustrates⁹ some of what that network is for the future.

OK, well here, we are showing eh, a variety of technologies. We have a multicast technology on the Internet where we’re broadcasting, eh, pictures live over the Internet and receiving it here with a number of different bit rates, ah and we demonstrates people how the Internet can be used to broadcast programming.

On this phone, we are showing, un, three, eh, the telephone company's handset, with X-Factor content on it from ITV. This is an example of how we will be shortly streaming TV programming from ITV while on the three platforms.

The TV festival continues throughout the weekend with some big names dropping into Edinburgh to deliver speeches. Former US Vice¹⁰ President Al Gore¹¹ leads the list talking about the on demand and online future of the medium.

There certainly is a buzz about the place, but if Sharman has a way, it won t be the same festival next year.

I think traditional TV is absolutely under threat. My ambition is for the end of this festival, which is called the Edinburgh Television Festival, that it should be renamed the Edinburgh Media Festival next year. I think completely TV is under threat. I think it has to evolve, it has to change, it has to adopt some of the technologies that is, that is rivals, a, a taking on, or running with.

This shop window says it all. Some people have a very different idea of what is high-tech¹². Matt Kelvin, Reuters.

Vocabulary

spoof—noun. A gentle satirical imitation; a light parody¹³.

1 spoof   

n.诳骗，愚弄，戏弄

参考例句：

• The show was a spoof of college life.那戏是对大学生活的讽刺。
• That is Tim Robbins's spoof documentary about a presidential campaign.那是蒂姆·罗宾斯关于总统选举的讽刺纪录片。

2 apprentice   

n.学徒，徒弟

参考例句：

• My son is an apprentice in a furniture maker's workshop.我的儿子在一家家具厂做学徒。
• The apprentice is not yet out of his time.这徒工还没有出徒。

3 contestants   

n.竞争者，参赛者( contestant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The competition attracted over 500 contestants representing 8 different countries. 这次比赛吸引了代表8个不同国家的500多名参赛者。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency. 两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 jovial   

adj.快乐的，好交际的

参考例句：

• He seemed jovial,but his eyes avoided ours.他显得很高兴，但他的眼光却避开了我们的眼光。
• Grandma was plump and jovial.祖母身材圆胖，整天乐呵呵的。

5 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 pessimism   

n.悲观者，悲观主义者，厌世者

参考例句：

• He displayed his usual pessimism.他流露出惯有的悲观。
• There is the note of pessimism in his writings.他的著作带有悲观色彩。

7 advisory   

adj.劝告的，忠告的，顾问的，提供咨询

参考例句：

• I have worked in an advisory capacity with many hospitals.我曾在多家医院做过顾问工作。
• He was appointed to the advisory committee last month.他上个月获任命为顾问委员会委员。

8 dissecting   

v.解剖（动物等）( dissect的现在分词 )；仔细分析或研究

参考例句：

• Another group was dissecting a new film showing locally. 另外一批人正在剖析城里上演的一部新电影。 来自辞典例句
• Probe into Dissecting Refraction Method Statics Processing under Complicated Surface Conditions. 不同地表条件下土壤侵蚀的坡度效应。 来自互联网

9 illustrates   

给…加插图( illustrate的第三人称单数 )； 说明； 表明； （用示例、图画等）说明

参考例句：

• This historical novel illustrates the breaking up of feudal society in microcosm. 这部历史小说是走向崩溃的封建社会的缩影。
• Alfred Adler, a famous doctor, had an experience which illustrates this. 阿尔弗莱德 - 阿德勒是一位著名的医生，他有过可以说明这点的经历。 来自中级百科部分

10 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

11 gore   

n.凝血，血污；v.（动物）用角撞伤，用牙刺破；缝以补裆；顶

参考例句：

• The fox lay dying in a pool of gore.狐狸倒在血泊中奄奄一息。
• Carruthers had been gored by a rhinoceros.卡拉瑟斯被犀牛顶伤了。

12 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

13 parody   

n.打油诗文，诙谐的改编诗文，拙劣的模仿；v.拙劣模仿，作模仿诗文

参考例句：

• The parody was just a form of teasing.那个拙劣的模仿只是一种揶揄。
• North Korea looks like a grotesque parody of Mao's centrally controlled China,precisely the sort of system that Beijing has left behind.朝鲜看上去像是毛时代中央集权的中国的怪诞模仿，其体制恰恰是北京方面已经抛弃的。