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...

Sourcebook gets bigger

AIB is in touch with more than 25,000 people in the world's electronic media industry and for some years we have been helping others in the industry to find out who's who by publishing a directory of broadcasting.

From small beginnings in the early part of the century, the AIB directory is now a comprehensive guide to the world's media - and the new edition is in the final stages of preparation. We've rebranded this year's directory as the Global Broadcasting Sourcebook and it will be available from the beginning of September in both print and PDF formats.

We're working in partnership with colleagues at Broadband TV News to compile this year's Sourcebook, with a great deal of new information about cable, satellite and IPTV to augment the already extensive data about broadcasters in territories throughout the world.

More than 8,000 contacts will appear in the Sourcebook, each one checked by the research team at the AIB's headquarters and our colleagues at BTN. We're also including analysis of selected markets, and background information that will be of use to people needing to know about broadcasting in different markets.

So whether it's information about Lao National TV (yes, we're in touch with executives in that organisation) or Deutsche Welle, TV2 in Denmark or Fastweb in Italy (yes, we know people in those companies) that you need, this Sourcebook is for you.

The new Sourcebook will be distributed free-of-charge to members of the AIB as part of their membership benefits. People outside the AIB membership can order their copy online here.

AIB working hard

It's a busy time at the AIB as we follow up on a range of work for our members throughout the world. 

As my blog on Monday reported, I've been at the FT Digital Media conference in London where I had some interesting and informative discussions with a number of people. On Friday, it's off to Doha for the fourth Al Jazeera Forum. 

In the meantime, the AIB is following up on a number of discussions that started at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. For example, we're in discussion with a company that has got mobile TV content distribution agreements in place in a large number of countries in Asia. I'm going to see how we can get our members' content onto this new platform as it comes online in the coming weeks in emerging markets. 

We're also hard at work on the research of the new AIB directory - now renamed as the AIB Global Broadcasting Sourcebook. This new sourcebook has completely revised and updated content, plus a whole lot of context to make it an indispensible guide to media worldwide. OK - a plug: you can book an enhanced entry for your company or take advertising in the sourcebook. Download the media pack here and talk to us soon!