Yeah, that's public debating. 

I'm no expert, but I've seen a few. No one wins. There are no judges; these are named, well respected individuals (respected by somebody, at least). Who are you going to get to tell one of them that they lost? The only time there's clear victory conditions is the rare occasion when they have the audience take a position before and after, like Intelligence Squared. It becomes more of a casual discourse at some point, and when the debate is more than a dick measuring contest, it can be interesting to see them discuss. 

I didn't watch this one because it looked sounded like a big dick contest (and I had other things I wanted to do). How was/is it?