Hidden pain becomes visible

For the second time in as many weeks, the company hosting the website of the AIB - and a range of other companies' sites - has been hacked. Instead of seeing the latest news from across the media industry, visitors to www.aib.org.uk have been treated to the view of a cross-eyed penguin...

It's frustrating for us as people in broadcasters all over the world check for last minute information about the 2011 AIBs, our international media excellence awards, but thankfully our special awards site [theaibs.tv] is hosted separately and has not been compromised.

These episodes have demonstrated the absolute vital need to maintain back-ups of back-ups. You simply cannot rely on a single back-up as we discovered on the first hacking. The server company's back-up took days rather than hours to decompress, crashing servers constantly. So we made a back-up in the office to make sure we had some level of additional security. We've used that to get up and running this afternoon.

All this comes when Britain's secret listening service - GCHQ - reveals that it is struggling to retain cyber experts. It seems that people with expertise in all things hacking and cyber are being lured by multinationals like Amazon, Google and Microsoft who offer somewhat higher salaries than GCHQ - so naturally they jump ship from the public to commercial sector.

Meanwhile, AIB is looking at what it should do with its online presence. The answer is probably to spread things around. Already we've migrated our e-mail to Google apps (which works extraordinarily well) and, as I mentioned earlier, our awards website is hosted by a different company to our main site. Diversity is key to everyone's longevity in cyberspace.

Entries from all over the world - there's still time to enter!

The AIB headquarters is inundated with entries to this year's international media excellence awards, the AIBs.

We've had entries from Indonesia, the UK, Canada, Australia, Qatar, the US, South Africa, France, Singapore and many other countries - everyone is eager to have their content show-cased in this year's AIBs.

The new People's Choice is moving forward, too. The subject this year is best coverage of pro-democracy uprisings, and the short-listed entries will be available on social networks and web platforms globally, thanks to a deal we're currently finalising with a major player that receives 50m uniques every month in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region alone.

If you have not yet entered, don't despair. The official closing date is Friday 15 July but we will offer flexibility to ensure that the world's best content is judged by our international jury.

And don't forget that as well as rewarding the best factual TV, radio and cross-media programming, the AIBs also celebrate the best on-air talent, the best broadcast marketing and the most innovative broadcasting technology.

A celebration of success - it's started

The first entries in this year's AIBs - our international media excellence awards - have started to arrive.

It's great to see this celebration of success taking centre stage in so many broadcasters and production companies around the world...in this seventh year of the AIBs, we're looking forward to a remarkable crop of entries from factual programme makers around the world who want to see their work highlighted internationally.

The awards do not overlook important related areas - there's a category for marketing (after all, the audience needs to be enthused to consume output) and for technology (we need to keep pushing technological boundaries to keep broadcasting fresh and up-to-the-minute).

AIB also rewards on-air talent with our international personality of the year category - one for radio, one for television.

So make sure you get your entries together and into AIB no later than 1 July 2011. See how to enter online at http://www.aib.org.uk/AIBs2011/entrybook.html.

AIBs getting closer

It's been a manic few weeks and it looks as though the pressure is not going to ease over the coming weeks, either.

AIB is in the final stages of planning its sixth annual AIBs - the international media excellence awards - with our judges now looking through and listening to the short-listed entries.

We're gearing up for the awards evening, taking place in London on Tuesday 9 November at LSO St Luke's - a venue that's proved immensely popular with guests to the AIBs over the past two years. More information is online at theaibs.tv.

Meanwhile we've seen a sudden surge in orders for our international directory - the AIB Global Broadcasting Sourcebook. It's the only global directory that includes TV, radio, online, satellite, cable and IPTV that's updated every month. That must be why it's proving popular...

Temperatures hot up, as do competitions

Here in the UK we're basking in extremely warm temperatures...after a wash-out summer in 2009 (which the UK's Met Office had predicted would be a scorcher), 2010 looks set to have a hot, dry summer.

And as the temperature increases outside, it is getting warmer in the AIB office. The phones are ringing off the hook and the world's courier companies are busy delivering packages of Digibeta tapes and CDs - all entries to this year's AIBs, the international media excellence awards.

We have entries from every continent and more are on the way - and many broadcasters, production houses and tech companies have asked us for more time to get their entries to us. So, we've agreed to an extension to the closing date.

Instead of the original date of 2 July, we've extended the closing date to Friday 16 July at 1600 GMT. That's the final cut-off for entries to reach us - giving people another ten working days to get their material to us.

We're looking forward to a great competition this year, with a great panel of judges (who are looking forward to the judging process, they are telling me) and great support from the industry via sponsorship: Eurosport is the latest company to agree to sponsor the 2010 AIBs, alongside Bloomberg Television, Advanced Digital Broadcast and 1GOAL.

Make sure you get your entries in by 16 July.

Entries heading our way

Entries for the 2010 AIBs, the international media excellence awards, are arriving at AIB head office from all over the world.

It's great to see another immense range of programmes being submitted into the sixth annual AIBs from broadcasters everywhere in the world, from New Zealand to Qatar, Germany to the Netherlands, Chile to the USA.

At the same time, there are entries for the technology category arriving, highlighting some of the great technical solutions for the broadcasting industry.

So now is the time to get your entry into us before the competition closes on 2 July. Look at the entry booklet here: http://www.aib.org.uk/onlinepubs/aibs_2010_entry/Entrybook.swf.

And you can see a short video of the 2009 AIBs here: http://www.youtube.com/user/AIBLondon#p/a/u/1/yqkfRWTI7o0.

Chairing and presenting, meeting and discussing

It's been a busy few weeks and it looks as though the coming weeks will be equally busy.

From visits to Barcelona and New Delhi comes lots of follow-up work to do and I'm slowly managing to catch up with everything. And now I'm heading off to chair the Social TV Forum in London on 16 March and then to Moscow - BA strikes permitting - to speak about digital TV around the world at the 3rd Digital TV Russia summit.

On top of all that, my colleagues and I are working hard on the preparations for this year's AIBs - the international media excellence awards - that we are launching in mid-April. This is the sixth year of the AIBs and I have a feeling that this year will be the best yet. We're making sure that more programme makers know about the awards than ever before and are looking forward to a bumper crop of entries.

And then there's all the research work we're doing for our market intelligence briefings that AIB members around the world receive.

It's probably a good thing that the sun is shining...it makes for a more inspirational working environment which leads to getting more things done!

AIB up in lights at MWC - well, on flags, actually!

AIB gets great mentions at the entrance to hall 2 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this year.

Our award to France 24 in the 2009 AIBs is celebrated on around 48 banners lining the walkway into hall 2, encouraging visitors to go to the Mobiclip stand.

Thanks, Mobiclip - doubtless you will be supporting the 2010 AIBs...

Happy New Year!

The start of 2010 has seen the AIB head office in rural Kent, south-east of London, surrounded by snow and ice as Britain is gripped by the coldest winter in more than a quarter of a century. The level of preparedness for bad weather in the UK has been abysmal, with train services slashed and a distinct lack of grit on the roads. Perhaps it's partly because the UK's Meteorological Office forecast a mild winter [it had earlier predicted a dry, hot summer - something that failed to be translated into reality]. Despite all the trials and tribulations of getting to work, AIB staff have ploughed through the snow and are busy working for our global membership.

At AIB, we're busy planning our activities for 2010. Mobile is something that continues to be important for us as we try to forge relationships between mobile companies and broadcasters. We'll be at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next month, facilitating meetings between broadcasters and mobile operators and manufacturers, ensuring AIB members' content is high on the agendas of mobile companies.

We're involved with a range of conferences this year, starting with RadioAsia in New Delhi towards the end of February, FICCI Frames in March, the FT Digital Media conference in London, and digital TV events in Moscow and Beijing. We'll be chairing events, starting conversations and reporting on developments in many different markets to AIB members.

It's going to be a busy year, with lots going on - including the sixth annual AIBs, our international media excellence awards, which we'll launch at MIP TV in Cannes in April. The Awards will be presented at our gala evening in London in November - you can get a flavour of last year's event with photos at Flickr.

So, back to work...

AIBs 2009 - the celebration gets closer

The 2009 AIBs - the fifth annual celebration of excellence in TV, radio and cross-media broadcasting - draw ever closer.

With a great number of entries this year, our short-listing team worked overtime to assess which of the tremendous breadth and depth of entries should go forward to our international judging panel. Now it's up to some key people in countries as diverse as Finland, Australia, Ghana, the USA, South Africa, Germany, the UAE and the UK to decide which productions deserve the ultimate accolade from the AIB.

This year our awards evening takes place on 4 November and we're guaranteed a great turnout with people travelling from all over the world to join our annual Awards event. Have you booked your places yet? Go online at www.aib.org.uk and reserve your seats for a fabulous dinner and great networking.

Awards shortlisting

We've been hard at work over the past few weeks devising the short-list for the 2009 AIBs - the international media excellence awards.

The AIBs are a celebration of the very best programming across news, current affairs, features, and specialist genres, particularly focusing on programmes that work across borders.

We've had a great crop of entries this year - slightly down on last year's record figure - but still a great number from broadcasters and production houses throughout the world - more than 30 countries are represented in this completely non-commercial competition.

The award entries are now on their way to our international judging panel - our judges are spread throughout the world to ensure that we gain a range of perspectives on the programmes submitted. From Pakistan to Ghana, South Africa to Germany, our judges will look at and listen to the work submitted and send their results and comments to us in time for the awards to be made, ready for presentation on 4 November at LSO St Luke's in London.

Join us there - you can book your place online at www.aib.org.uk - but don't delay as last year's Awards was a sell-out and we had to turn people away (that's happened two year's running now - and this is only year five of the AIBs!).

AIBs go up a gear

The 2009 AIBs officially close for entries on Friday but it seems that we'll have to extend the deadline by a few days. That's because the phone's ringing off the hook at AIB headquarters with broadcasters from all over the world pleading for a few more days in which to get us their work.

We're happy to oblige, even if it means we're going to be up against it, time-wise, when it comes to shortlisting. However, we'll manage and the international panel of judges will get plenty of time to evaluate the shortlisted entries and decide which entries are worthy of a 2009 AIB.

With material from RTHK, the UK's Channel 4, independent producers in the Middle East, RFE/RL, NDTV, Russia Today, 6 News, Belsat and many more, this competition will once again celebrate success in broadcasting all over the world.

Want to enter your material? You still can - check out the awards details at www.aib.org.uk and then let us know if you can't make Friday's deadline. We'll do our best to accommodate you, provided you don't need a whole month to compile your entry!

AIB searching for the best

It's that time of year again when the AIB headquarters is inundated with courier deliveries from all over the world - all entries for the annual AIBs, our international media excellence awards.

The AIB launched the AIBs five years ago at the request of its members and the competition has grown significantly to be an important highlight in the international media industry's calendar.

The reason for the acceptance and success of the AIBs is, I believe, down to the fact that they are a real, independently-judged, truly international competition that celebrates the best talent, programme-making, news coverage, and documentary-making in the world. We're not restricted to entries in English - after all, 90% of the world's population doesn't have English as a first language. We're non-commercial: although we have sponsors who support the competition, they have no influence over the results. We look at both cross-border and domestic productions, enabling practitioners in the industry to see why it's important to have the ability to contrast and compare programmes made in different parts of the world for different audiences.

As I travel the world, I've met a whole range of inspiring people in broadcasting and the wider media industry and I know that there's much work out there that cries out for recognition but is often not highlighted to the rest of the industry. That's what the 2009 AIBs will be trying to correct.

So, look out your best work and submit it to the 2009 AIBs - more at www.aibawards.com. And see you in London on 4 November for our gala celebration evening!

Cannes...miserable weather, miserable numbers

The weather does not help lift spirits here at MIP TV with rain tumbling from leaden skies. Inside, I have seen many stands which have been deserted by their owners. Some I have talked to say that despite having booked meetings over the past few weeks, many people have cancelled as they are simply not coming to this year`s programme market.

It is becoming a market of ad hoc meetings - of course, that has always been the case but now it is more the norm than ever before.

However, the conference has been interesting. This morning the keynotes from Niklas Savander of Nokia and Jeffrey Cole of the USC Annenberg Center for the Digital Future were inspiring. Cole provided a whole range of new examples of how TV is changing for the future - something I will analyse for AIB members next week.

I am starting to spread the word about the 2009 AIB Media Excellence Awards - the AIBs. Getting good feedback from a number of broadcasters and production companies. Not the case with TRT, however, which has a big stand but no one seems to understand about entering programmes they have made into international competitions. Draw your own conclusions.

Now I have to go and brave the weather (and avoid the numerous umbrella sellers outside the Palais) and go and meet Middle East media executives on the Syrian stand.

Barcelona leads

Here in Barcelona it's been chillier than in previous years during Mobile World Congress. However, in the conference and exhibition the temperature has been hotting up with some of the AIB's contacts talking of the best event ever for deals.

That's good news and certainly the AIB has enjoyed getting a whole raft of leads of people and organisations that are interested in what our membership does and in getting involved with the AIB's events, such as the 2009 AIB Media Excellence Awards - the AIBs. 

We'll be following up on those over the coming few days and look forward to working with more companies in the mobile industry during the year. 

Now it's time for me to work on the mobile and broadcast session that I'm chairing here on Thursday...

A busy time

Goodness, it's been unremittingly busy over the past few weeks. We're building up to the highlight of the AIB's year - our annual Awards event and diner pensant which is in London on 12 November at LSO St Luke's.

This year's event promises to be the greatest celebration of success in international media that we've ever organised. The event is fully subscribed, and there's a waiting list for seats! 210 people from every part of the world will be joining us for the Awards which will be presented by France 24's Mark Owen.

I'm looking forward to it greatly - although the strain is now starting to show at AIB HQ where everyone is distinctly frazzled. But the effort is worth it, as we see surprised faces on many of the award winners' faces next Wednesday.

I'll update this blog with news from the evening, and make sure that the photos are available for all to see.

Shameless plug?

This year's AIB Awards have taken everyone involved by surprise. With more than three times received this year than the number of entries submitted in 2007, it seems that these Awards have truly captured the imagination of broadcasters, online producers and technologists the world over.

The shortlisting process turned into a mammoth task (we'd expected perhaps 30 or 40 more entries than last year), but because we wanted to be scrupulously fair to all entrants, our shortlisting team has watched every TV programme submitted, listened to every radio entry, tested every cross-media production, and thought long and hard about the marketing and technology entries. This work has brought us to a shortlist of around 24% of the total entries, and we've posted this online at www.aib.org.uk.

Now it's up to our judges who are spread around the world, from the US to Australia, Ghana to South Africa, Germany to Denmark, and many other places in between. We'll be keeping the results absolutely secret until we present the Awards on 12 November.

So the reason for calling this a shameless plug? Because I want to encourage you to book your seats at the 2008 AIB Awards taking place in London on 12 November. It's going to be a truly great evening, celebrating success in international media and offering many unexpected insights into the way global media is developing. You can book online at www.aib.org.uk - but be quick: when I checked this afternoon, one third of the places had already been reserved!

Lots of boxes...all with great material

This is a pile of boxes. So what?

Well, they are one morning's arrivals in the AIB Awards office in the UK - packages of broadcasts submitted to the Awards from organisations throughout the world.

It's great to see so many companies sending in their work - from Taiwan to Germany, Sweden to the UAE, the US to Australia.

There's still time to enter - the deadline is now 18 July. See what the AIB is looking for at www.aibawards.com.

Meanwhile, AIB Executive Officer Alison Seary has to start opening and cataloguing this lot. And tomorrow's. And Mondays...

AIB Awards gather pace

The 2008 AIB Media Excellence Awards are gathering pace, with more and more organisations around the world entering. At the AIB head office we're getting lots of calls from broadcasters throughout the world who are now working on their entries - in the past few days we've had enquiries from Egyptian TV, radio stations in Argentina and Brazil, broadcasters in the USA and the Far East.

All this means that we're going to have a remarkable contest this year with more entries than ever before. We've been asked by some entrants if we can extend the deadline for submissions, and we're responded by moving the closing date from 30 June to 19 July 2008. We hope this helps!

It's also encouraging that there's still excellent feedback coming in from last year's Awards and the gala evening we ran at Clothworkers' Hall in the City of London to present the prizes. Nigel Chapman, Director of BBC World Service, said to me on Monday evening that he's keen to attend this year as he'd heard really good things about the event and wanted to see for himself. That's great - so why not enter today? See www.aibawards.com.

The week ahead

It's Monday morning and the sun is shining here in South-East England, which makes for a much more pleasant working mood than when the weather is dismal!

It's going to be a busy week. In the office, we're working on the latest edition of The Channel, the AIB's print magazine. We're also ringing round producers, editors, journalists and PR people, reminding them about this year's AIB Awards. With only a few weeks until the Awards close, we're getting enquiries from all over the world - on Friday, calls came in from Argentina, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and the USA, demonstrating the global nature of the AIB Media Excellence Awards.

This week also has a good deal of socialising and networking. Tonight (Monday) it's off the Broadcasting House in central London for the unveiling of Breathing, a light sculpture. On Wednesday, it's the All Party Parliamentary Group Summer Reception at Channel 4's London HQ and on Thursday VT Communications have kindly invited me to a day's sailing on the south coast of England.

So it's back to work...