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In a high-concept, passionate RTS lecture, illustrated by film clips and quotes from such 20th century giants as John Maynard Keynes and Bob Dylan, Puttnam mounted a passionate case for media regulation to curb the excesses of “data capitalism.”

“Tech monopolies (Google, Amazon, Facebook) are taking over the internet. A pernicious form of corporatism could, under the wrong set of circumstances, replace democracy as we have known and enjoyed it,” he said.

It was “nonsense” that these companies were too big to regulate.  

Many broadcasters are convinced that targeted advertising is a silver bullet. They claim it will help level the playing field with Google and Facebook and so future-proof their businesses.

But at a packed RTS early-evening event, 'Is targeted advertising the future of TV?', it became clear that the debate over smart advertising’s role in commercial TV is more nuanced than that. It is conceivable that internet-­delivered, personalised ads aimed at individuals will one day be as commonplace as driverless vehicles are expected to be.

Imagine that a broadcaster reaching over 1 billion people a day is making billions of pounds of profits every year, partly by distributing news coverage that includes numerous mistakes.

Imagine, too, that, when the broadcaster is called to account, its first proposed solution to the problem is to send out a message to viewers entitled “tips for spotting false news”. The first of the 10 tips is: “Be sceptical of headlines”.

The chances are that the broadcaster would be told that its so-called “new educational tool against misinformation” was hardly a satisfactory remedy.

The latest kit from some of the leading innovators in virtual reality was available for the audience to test, before and after a panel of experts discussed the consumer appeal of the new technology.

Event chair, journalist Kate Bulkley, posed the key question to the panel: Would virtual reality telly fare any better than 3D TV? The latter had been much hyped by the manufacturers and broadcasters a few years ago before disappearing, leaving barely a trace.

Niantic, Inc. is the developer of hit AR games Pokémon Go and Ingress. The formerly Google-owned developer was spun out of the company in October 2015. In March 2015 Google announced that the software developer was working on adapting Ingress for television.

Philippe Dauman, Chief Executive of Viacom, the media empire created by nonagenarian Sumner Redstone, has been called many things in his long Viacom career.

One is "dauphin", marking both his succession potential and the fact that he is French-born. Although he has lived almost all of his life in the US, Dauman is a fluent French speaker.

He is "an iron fist in a velvet glove" according to Sir Martin Sorrell, Chief Executive of WPP. The New York Times summed him up as "The man who would be Redstone".

1. Why your TV should talk to your toaster: connected-TV and the 'internet of things'

One of the big draws at television technology shows such as NAB in Las Vegas is the "living room of the future", with its wall-filling, multi-image, interactive TV screen. Such "wallpaper displays" are still, largely, mock-ups, not demonstrations of real services.

But the "internet of things" (IoT) – the multiplication of connected devices, body-worn sensors and Cloud data services – could soon make such TVs a reality.