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‘Bridesmaids’ Is Top VOD Title of All Time

NEW YORK — Universal Pictures’ raunchy comedy film Bridesmaids is now the
most-ordered video-on-demand title of all time, with more than 4.8 million
rentals in just over four months of release, according to Rentrak’s OnDemand
Essentials.

Bridesmaids, which follows the
shenanigans of several bridesmaids
leading up to the big day, has grossed
more than $24 million in VOD revenue
since it debuted last October. Add in
revenues from Internet VOD, pay-perview,
hotel viewings and electronic
sell-through transactions, and the
movie has totaled more than 7 million
orders and grossed $40 million domestically,
according to Universal.

Bridesmaids grossed more than $288 million in worldwide box office during
its theatrical run and has generated more than $100 million in Blu-ray and DVD
sales in the U.S., according to Universal.

Senate Panel Backs Cameras in Supreme Court

WASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-7 to approve bill S.
1945, which would open up Supreme Court oral arguments to being televised in
real time unless a majority of judges ruled it would violate due process. That is
likely as far as the bill will get. Again.

While that vote included the support of the top Democrat and Republican on
the committee, cable public-affairs network C-SPAN was not breaking out the
Champagne. Although C-SPAN has been trying for years to get its cameras into
the High Court, it was not getting its hopes up.

Like a Capitol Hill version of the movie Groundhog Day, the same committee
has passed essentially the same bill three times before, only to see it wind up
in the same place: nowhere.

C-SPAN VP and general counsel Bruce Collins pointed out that qualms raised
by Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) — one of the 7 no votes — and the need for
60 votes on just about any bill these days means the prospects are, yet again,
not good.

Committee chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who voted for the bill, said it was
important to have as much openness as possible for as many people as possible.
But with five Justices still against TV coverage, the chances remain slim.
Collins also pointed out that a companion bill in the House has only 16 cosponsors.

Bill backers hope to get it inserted into upcoming oral arguments on healthcare
legislation.

— John Eggerton

Viacom Inks Broad Net-Video Pact With Amazon

NEW YORK — Turning up the heat on Netflix, Amazon.com reached a licensing
agreement with Viacom that will allow members of its Amazon Prime freeshipping
program to stream over the Internet “thousands” of TV shows from its
cable networks, including MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, TV Land, Spike,
VH1, BET, CMT and Logo.

Terms were not disclosed. All of the TV show content licensed under the
agreement is from prior seasons, according to Viacom.

With the Viacom content, Amazon Prime Instant Videos will now offer more
than 15,000 titles. The service, which is currently available to members of the
online retailer’s $79-per-year free two-day shipping program, can be accessed
via more than 300 different devices. Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet, introduced
last fall, includes one free month of the Prime service.

With Viacom, Amazon may have the
critical mass to launch a standalone
streaming-video offering, in a direct
challenge to Netflix — which cut an
expanded video-streaming deal with
Viacom in May 2011. Separately, Verizon
Communications and Coinstar’s
Redbox have created a joint venture
to deliver an over-the-top video subscription
service, although they did
not identify content partners.

Episodes of Viacom cable shows
to be available on the Amazon Prime Instant Videos service will include:
MTV’s The Hills, Jersey Shore, The Hard Times of RJ Berger and several seasons
of The Real World; Comedy Central’s Chappelle’s Show and The Sarah
Silverman Program; Nickelodeon’s iCarly, Dora the Explorer, SpongeBob
SquarePants and Yo! Gabba Gabba; and TV Land’s Hot in Cleveland.

NCTA: Boxee Is Wrong About Basic-Cable Encryption

WASHINGTON — The National Cable & Telecommunications Association said Internet-
video startup Boxee is “simply wrong” in asserting that changing FCC rules
to let cable operators encrypt basic-cable channels would hurt consumer choice
and limit competition.

The Federal Communications Commission
opened a proceeding last fall
on a proposal to eliminate the requirement
that MSOs provide basic-cable
TV “in the clear”; that is, without any
encryption.

Boxee, in a Feb. 2 filing with the
FCC, said as many as 40% of its
customers who use the live-TV option
with set-tops based on its software
for accessing Web video would be
forced to pay more for cable set-tops
if the encryption ban were lifted. The
New York-based company markets its
products as an alternative to paying
for cable TV.

“If clear QAM is eliminated, consumers
who have little or no OTA [over-theair]
antenna reception will not only be
denied the choice of ‘shaving the cord’ with a product such as Boxee, but will
also be forced to rent additional set-top boxes for any TVs in their home that
were previously receiving only the basic tier via clear QAM,” the company said.

In a presentation to FCC staff, Boxee said, “We don’t see any” consumer
benefits to allowing basic-tier encryption, unless such a rule change were accompanied
by an open standard that would ensure compatibility of third-party
devices with pay TV services.

Satellite-TV providers are not subject to the FCC’s ban on basic-tier encryption.

In a response at the FCC last week, the NCTA said Boxee’s assertion that allowing
basic-cable encryption would provide no consumer benefits was “astounding.”

Basic-tier encryption would mean cable customers wouldn’t have to wait at home
for a service visit when connecting or disconnecting service, the NCTA argued. The
rule change also would result in improved service reliability by reducing theft of service
(particularly among broadband-only subscribers) and provide cable operators
incentives to migrate to all-digital networks, according to the trade group.

NCTA also said Boxee’s claim that its customers will be harmed is at odds
with its marketing of the live-TV feature as a “cord-cutting device” that can access
broadcast signals via over-the-air antennas.

— Todd Spangler

BBCA Enjoys Viral Spread of NYC Outdoor Ads

NEW YORK — BBC America is getting social media mileage out of a new outdoor
advertising campaign it launched in the New York metropolitan area.

Billboards and commuter transit ads that invoke franchises and stars like
Doctor Who and Gordon Ramsay, and use the irreverent tone the channel has
adopted as its personality, started appearing in late January.

A dual, stacked billboard installed on Jan. 26 in Manhattan’s Meatpacking
District, not far from Chelsea Market,
promotes the network as a
whole. “We claim this space in the
name of Quality British Television,”
the top sign says, while the lower
sign reads, “Also this one. BBC
America.” Poster ads in the area’s
three suburban commuter train lines
are wordy and catchy, as in, “My
other commute is in a TARDIS” (a
Doctor Who reference) and “Gordon
Ramsay takes no responsibility for
the dining car in this train.”

The channel counted more than
12,500 posts and likes on Tumblr,
close to 500 tweets of photos or
comments, and 1,000 wallpaper downloads of the TARDIS ad, helped by pickups
in Perez Hilton’s blog and BuzzFeed.

About half of the 74 million-home channel’s marketing spend this year will be
in the New York market, officials said.

— Kent Gibbons