Edinburgh TV Festival Relocating To Greater Manchester

After 50 years, the Edinburgh TV Festival is no more.

Greater Manchester will become the new home of the biggest annual gathering of the British TV industry after a competitive bidding process fought between numerous British cities.

The decision means that 2026 will be the final time the TV Festival takes place in the Scottish capital.

Campbell Glennie, CEO of the TV Festival and TV Foundation, said Greater Manchester “presented a vision for the Festival that combined genuine creative ambition and future-facing energy with practical accessibility and affordability for delegates.” “This means we can radically reduce the costs associated with attending the Festival as well as the cost of passes,” he added. “The city reflects the expanding ambition of the UK television industry, while still offering the scale, connectivity and unique cultural identity needed for an event of this significance; it  gives us the strongest platform to grow the Festival’s reach and impact in the years ahead.”

The Festival team paid tribute to Edinburgh, describing the city and its cultural heritage as “embedded within the TV Festival’s heart and soul,” but board chair Fatima Salaria said the decision ultimately came down to questions of “affordability, accessibility, sustainability and the changing shape of the industry.” The other losing bid, Newcastle’s, was branded “ambitious, imaginative and deeply compelling” by the festival team.

More details will be revealed in due course about the dates, shape and venue of the 2027 fest, the first ever to be held in England.

The TV Festival launched a surprise bidding process late last year, open to both Edinburgh and other cities, although London was excluded. This came following feedback and a review amid complaints over affordability, with accommodation costs in Edinburgh hugely expensive in August due to the Edinburgh Fringe, which takes place simultaneous to the TV Festival.

But the decision to take such a big gathering away from Scotland has been controversial. Top comedy figures complained several weeks back that numerous British hits would never have seen the light of day had it not been for the Festival’s alchemy with the Fringe, an alchemy that has led American executives to come over in droves and birthed shows like Fleabag and Baby Reindeer. Others have raised concerns about the impact the relocation will have on the local Scottish industry. The Edinburgh International Film Festival, at the same time, has been growing, having just launched a conference section.

Greater Manchester and its surrounding area itself has a rich TV heritage of production, news and cultural hits like Queer as Folk, Shameless and The Royle Family.

The timing of the news is intriguing. One influential champion of its bid was Andy Burnham, the former Greater Manchester Mayor who is now set to become UK Prime Minister after an astonishing few weeks in British politics that has seen the current PM Keir Starmer step down, effectively paving the way for Burnham to win unchallenged. A separate Manchester industry event, Mythos Manchester, took place for the first time earlier this month and Burnham was due to speak.

This year’s final Edinburgh kicks off in around two months and its keynote MacTaggart lecture will be delivered by YouTube EMEA boss Pedro Pina.