The Royal Wedding kick-started, but by no means overshadowed the long, hot, English summer of 2018, which was defined not only by its heatwave, but also by some other very vivid and historical moments. Some of these include: VAR (video assistant referee) systems being used for the first time at the FIFA world cup; Angelique Kerber, defeating Serena Williams to become the first German since Steffi Graf in 1996 to win Wimbledon;

Sky TV has been sold to the US giant Comcast, a virtual unknown in the UK market. The Murdoch family has lost out… in power terms, not, of course, in money terms. Rupert Murdoch’s last audacious business move blew up in his face. Here’s the story. He had divorced the New International newspaper business from the Fox media empire after the phone hacking scandals that emerged in 2011.

The Velvet Light Trap is proud to present the CFP for its 85th issue: Bad Objects! The concept of a “bad object” has long been a moving target in media studies. Although the term is rarely defined with any specificity, a “bad object” is typically a text that is used in critical analysis with the implicit or explicit acknowledgement of its perceived violations of “good” taste.

Call for Abstracts: Food and Cooking on Early European Television Food has been part of television from its beginnings.

The amateur boxing match between YouTube stars KSI (UK) and Logan Paul (USA) on August 25 could amass more than 20m views, if previous events are anything to go by. That’s more than watched the finals of the FA Cup, or Wimbledon. This is big news and big business.

Whether an actor playing a role or a contributor representing themselves, no one simply walks onto the television – they are cast. For television drama, the decision is usually made by formal audition, attended by selected actors.

In the second part of this interview with television producer Tom Edwards, the focus shifts from earlier production experiences to Tom’s role as a Commissioning Executive Producer for BBC1&2 Factual Features and Formats.

CALL FOR PAPERS: TRANSITIONS 8 –new directions in comics studies 2018 BIRKBECK COLLEGE LONDON Saturday 10th November 2018   After a year’s hiatus we are delighted to announce this call for papers for the interdisciplinary Transitions 2018 symposium.

Back to the Future: Telling and Taming Anticipatory Media Visions and Technologies Special Issue of “Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies” Guest-editors: Christian Pentzold (University of Bremen, Germany), Anne Kaun (Södertörn University, Sweden), and Christine Lohmeier (University of Bremen, Germany) Digital media, networked services, and aggregate data are

Call for Chapters: ‘This Country: UK comedy cultures’ Extended deadline: 20 ^th August 2018.

University College Cork, 24 November 2018 From the earliest moments of its existence, the optimistic dream of America has been underpinned by a much darker sense of anxiety and paranoia.