Apple drops out of NAB show
 

Apple Inc. announced it will not exhibit at this year’s NAB Show, only months after its main compi petitor, Avid Technology, scrapped their NAB booth. Rumors of Apple’s lack of presence at the show were confirmed by the company’s senior PR manager Anuj Nayar, who said that Apple is “participating in fewer trade shows this year.” Nayar pointed to the increasing popularity of Appi ple’s retail stores and website as “better ways to reach our customers.” NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton said the Association is still discussing “on-site busini ness opportunities” with Apple at the show.

DOLBY launches surround sound for mobiles

In a venture into the mobile market, Dolby has launched surround sound for handheld devices. Market growth in the mature mobile markets of Western Euri rope and the U.S. is weakening, but the Middle East is the second-fastest growi ing mobile phone market in the world, with penetration predicted to expand beyond 50%. Poised as a leading mobile content market, the Arab world could offer high demand for Dolby Mobile surround sound. Dolby Mobile aims to offer a “fuller, more natural sound” for handheld devi vices, according to Max Taylor, Directi tor of Marketing for Dolby’s Mobile Business unit. The technology includessound level controller, and a Sound Space Expander to improve the imaging of instruments on a track. These features have been available in select models of Sharp handsets which have been on the Japanese market since November of last year. Dolby, an American entertainment technology company, announced partni nerships with PDA and handheld device manufactures, including Symbian, Texai as Instruments, and RMI, at the Mobile World Congress in February. Dolby Mobile says it developed most of the mobile sound technology inhouse, but the audio compression formimat was developed by the Swedish firm Coding Technologies, which Dolby has since acquired. Taylor said the acquisiti tion was part of Dolby’s plan to “revoli lutionize entertainment on the move,” after having establishing itself in the broadcast and DVD market.

U.N. backs $100 million film fund to fight stereotypes
 

The United Nations is sponsoring a $100 million non-profi it film fund to produce movies that “challenge stereotypes and bridge cultural divides.” YouTube, Participant Productions, Summit Entertainment, and ICM are said to have joined as partni ners of the Alliance of Civilizations Media Fund. The fund, which has secured $10 million in investments to date, was created at the Alliance of Civilizations Forum in Madrid, in the presence of co-founder Queen Noor of Jordan. The Queen spoke of the medi dia’s power “to humanize as well as polarize.” Announced in January, the fund has not yet taken on any projei ects and is in its foundation stages. “We hope that with the kind of content we get, the fund will be a self-sustaining entity,” an anonymous fund manager told Variety. Summit Entertainment’s chief operating officer Bob Haywood confirmed his compani ny would be involved in the fund as a distribution capacity. British entrepreneur Richard Branson is on the fund’s board and has vouched to support the project as well. The fund aims to “enhance the connections that already exist between different societies, but are seldom noted onscreen and in popular culture,” according to Queen Noor. The Queen says she has “long agonized” about the way in which popular culture reinforces stereotypes, which in turn spur bad policies based on misunderstanding. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he hopes the fund will help “counter ugly stereotypes in popular culture.” The Alliance of Civilizations Forum was created by the Spanish government in the wake of the 2004 Madrid train bombings and adopted by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The forum has remained a project of the U.N. Secreti tary-General and convenes to promote cross-cultural understanding.

Turkmenistan to remove “unsightly� satellite dishes
 

Satellite dishes are spoiling Turkmenistan’s “arci chitectural image” and should be removed, accordi ing to Turkmenistan’s communications minister Resulberdi Hojagurbanow. The Minister plans to remove individual satellite dishes and replace them with one high-capacity dish per apartment block, he recently announced at a meeting with high-ranking officials at local television station Altyn Asyr. “Having traveled to many foreign countries and cities, we have never seen such a picture of buildings peppered with dishes,” Hojagurbanow declared. The installation of high-capacity dishes, he said, will “expand viewing options” and allow people to watch foreign channels beyond the four channels offered by domestic television.

France mulls TV tax to replace ad revenue in 2009
 

The French government is studying a plan to tax consumer electronics in ordi der to finance ad-free public television. Slated by President Nicolas Sarkozy for 2009, the plan to scrap advertisi ing on public broadcasting is estimated to result in a €1 billion ($1.5 million) shortfall for French public television. In addition to a tax on consumer electi tronics, public television may also be financed by a further tax on ad revenue generated by France’s private television networks. That move could generate over €300 million ($438.5 million) in revei enue from private channels, says Nicolas de Tarvernost, the chairmi man of M6, France’s second-largest private channel. He opposes the plan, insisting that “increasing taxes on televi vision advertising would not be a good thing.” France’s €17 billion consumer electroni ics industry has also slammed the tax as “unfair” and “contradictory,” as it comes amidst the transition to digital broadcasti timng. Minister of Culture and Communi nication Christine Albanel said the tax on purchases of TVs, computers, and mobile phones will not be higher than 1% of a product’s price. He says the price of a standard LCD television set could inci crease by €30 ($44) when the new tax is combined with environmental and copyright taxes. Patrick de Carolis, president of the public network France Télévisions Publicité, says that Sarkozy’s plan needs to be replaced with a long-lasting investment in public broadcasting. This includes maintaining the editorial independence of his group, he says, and maintaining the “plurality” of all five of its channels in order to continue to address the French public at large. “The end of ratings does not signify the death of audience,” de Carolis told the French daily Le Monde.

HD DVD is dead
 The confusion over distributi tion of high definition DVDs has now reached a conclusi sion. HD DVD is dead. Toshiba Corporation recently anni nounced that it “will no longer develoi op, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders.” From the compi pany’s Tokyo headquarters, President Atsutoshi Nishida said, “We carefully assessed the long-term impact of conti tinuing the so-called ‘next-generation format war’ and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market devi velop.” The decision by the electronics maker ends the battle with a consortium led by Sony over who would set the standard for the next generation of videodiscs. It was a fight over mutually incompati ible formats that was reminiscent of the1980s war beti tween VHS and Betamax, except this time, Sony won. The war confi fused everyone, from content prodi ducers to shoppi pers, and stalled a move to the new technology in the $24 billion home DVD market. Blu-ray’s initi tial supporters included Sony Pictures, Walt Disney Co., Lions Gate Entertainmi ment, News Corp’s 20th Century Fox, and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., which makes Panasonic products. But it was this year’s decision by WarnerBros. Entertainment to release movie discs only in the Blu-ray format that made the move inevitable. “That had tremendous impact” on DVD HD’s capitulation, said Nishida. “We simply had no chance to win.”