Amazon Studios Announces Best Test Movie, Script Winners

Amazon Studios has picked the winners of its annual best test movie and best script contest, which invited filmmakers and screenwriters worldwide to submit full-length test movies and scripts, with the chance to see their movie made.

The family film 12 Princesses won best test movie of the year and the suspense thriller Origin of a Species won best script for 2011.

“We received projects from all over the world and have enjoyed collaborating with filmmakers and screenwriters on some amazing original stories,” said Roy Price, director of Amazon Studios. “Choosing the best test movie and the best script of the year was extremely challenging. With thousands of projects submitted, it was difficult to recognize only two.”

Amazon.com launched Amazon Studios in November 2010, allowing aspiring filmmakers to submit works for the chance at an exclusive contract with Amazon. Amazon Studios has had more than 700 movies and more than 7,000 scripts submitted.

PwC: Consumers Like the Look of Digital Lockers — As Long As They’re Free

The greatest potential benefit of new cloud storage and digital locker services, from the consumer’s perspective? Increased access to content, at no additional cost. That’s according to PwC, which concludes in a new study that although awareness of cloud services is increasing among consumers, many still lack an understanding of the value proposition behind products such as UltraViolet. Besides the benefit of no cost, consumers place priority on digital locker services offering the ability “to view my content wherever I am on whatever device I choose” (20 percent of those surveyed), as well as choice in “how to view content — download, disc or via streaming” (19 percent). As Matt Lieberman, PwC’s Marketing - Entertainment, Media, and Communications Leader, points out, “the top two perceived benefits — after the fact the service is free —are related to on-demand access. The findings from this research as well as our previous research on the topic show that consumers now expect on-demand access for premium content.” Even as understanding of digital locker services is still forming, many consumers are already used to sharing media and accessing media from digital sources (legitimate and otherwise). More than half of respondents to a PwC consumer survey age 18-24 (51 percent) use file-sharing software to share music, while 30 percent of those age 50-59 use such software to share photos. Meanwhile, nearly all survey respondents from all age brackets say they download or stream movies or TV shows on their computer at least once a month (from 97 percent of those age 18-24, to 98 percent of those age 50-59). But the onus is on marketers of UltraViolet and others in the “digital locker value chain,” PwC says, to educate consumers about “the benefits that come with digital locker ownership.” Read more findings from PwC’s study here.

Judge Denies Initial Effort To Shut Down ‘Used’ Digital Music Seller ReDigi (The Hollywood Reporter)

ReDigi, an upstart digital company that sells “used” digital music, has announced that it has successfully fended off the recording industry's motion for a preliminary injunciton. Capitol Records sued the company last month, arguing that a service that let users buy and sell previously purchased tracks on iTunes amounted to a “clearinghouse for copyright infringement.”...

Those Millions on Facebook? Some May Not Actually Visit (The New York Times)

If you managed to wade through to Page 44 of Facebook’s prospectus, you’d discover that the company provides a definition of an “active user” — and it is unlikely to be what you expected. Facebook counts as “active” users who go to its Web site or its mobile site. But it also counts an entire other category of people who don’t click on facebook.com as “active users.”...

Neil Young, the Donkey and Digital Music: The Full Dive Into Media Interview (Video) (All Things Digital)

Neil Young has a long and storied career, but he didn’t want to talk about it when he came onstage at D: Dive Into Media last week. Instead, the musician was pushing his vision of the future: One where lots of people listen to really good-sounding music....

Redbox To Acquire NCR’s Rival Kiosk Business, ‘Blockbuster Express’ Out of the Picture

The Blockbuster brand name is poised to disappear from some 9,000 DVD rental kiosks in the U.S., as Coinstar’s Redbox plans to acquire the machines in a deal with NCR Corp. announced Monday. NCR and Redbox made no reference to the “Blockbuster Express” name in announcing their acquisition agreement, which carries a value of up to $100 million and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2012. For Redbox, the deal will eliminate one of its biggest competitors from the DVD rental market — at the same time that the company makes a foray into streaming video services in a separate venture with Verizon. The company already operates more than 35,000 kiosks in the U.S. NCR had fought to retain the Blockbuster brand for its kiosks last year, even as the brick-and-mortar chain of Blockbuster stores restructured under the new ownership of Dish Network Corp. In May 2011, NCR filed a lawsuit asking a Delaware federal court to declare that the BB 2009 Trust — the owner of the Blockbuster Express name, design, and related trademarks — did not have the right to terminate its licensing agreement with NCR after Dish acquired an interest in the trust from Blockbuster. NCR evidently settled the litigation in advance of signing the Redbox deal. “This deal is with Coinstar [and] Redbox — and as we complete this transaction and we exit the owner-operated part of the business, that [will] terminate...the branding relationship that we have with Dish and Blockbuster,” said Bob Fishman, NCR’s chief financial officer, during the company’s earnings call with analysts on Monday. Asked by an analyst whether the litigation against the BB 2009 Trust would be taken over by Redbox, Bill Nuti, NCR chief executive, responded, “No. It doesn’t exist. It’s gone. It’s over.” Redbox will purchase rental kiosks, certain retailer contracts, and DVD inventory from NCR’s entertainment division. In connection with the asset purchases, Redbox parent Coinstar and NCR also will enter into a strategic supplier arrangement under which Coinstar will purchase products and services from NCR. NCR’s entertainment business earned $163 million in revenue during the company’s fiscal 2011, a 60 percent increase over the previous year.

Acorn Streams ‘Midsomer Murders,’ ‘Slings & Arrows’

British TV streaming service Acorn TV is streaming the U.S. debut of four new episodes of “Midsomer Murders,” as well as Canadian dramedy “Slings & Arrows.”

Acorn TV also has available the first season of the popular “Downton Abbey,” among other popular British shows such as “Poirot,” “Upstairs, Downstairs” and more.

Acorn TV is available for $24.99 for a full year and is accessible on computers, iPhones, iPads, Apple TV and Google TV.

Verizon, Coinstar’s Redbox Team on Streaming

The team-up between Verizon and Coinstar’s Redbox for a streaming service later this year is without a doubt a big deal. But the companies, in announcing their joint venture on Monday, left unanswered a big question: what content will their forthcoming service offer consumers? The general expectation is that the two companies will market some type of competitor to Netflix, which is busy adding exclusive original productions to its streaming catalog of largely legacy movies and TV series. Initially, Verizon and Redbox may follow Netflix’s playbook on offering older titles online, according to Coinstar chief executive Paul Davis. “Consumers who instantly want a new release can go to a kiosk and get it,” Davis tells the Los Angeles Times. “For titles that are a bit older, there will be streaming capability.” Sounds like a plan — if content owners go along with it. As it stands, Redbox is working around Warner’s insistence of a 56-day window on new DVD and Blu-ray releases. And owners of streaming rights are expecting big paychecks from content distributors, Daniel Ernst of Hudson Square Research tells Reuters. “[H]ow much are they investing to get a large library of programming? Netflix is spending up to $1 billion a year on content,” analyst Ernst says. “For me, it’s doubtful that these two companies will invest to that level.” Verizon will own a 65 percent stake in the new venture, with Coinstar owning the remaining 35 percent. Coinstar will provide an initial capital contribution of $14 million in cash to the venture, according to the companies’ regulatory filing. The companies plan to market “subscription services and more” under the new venture come the second half of 2012. “Regardless of whether a customer prefers a DVD, a Blu-ray disc, or streaming video to a mobile device or their home, we’ll make it very easy to access and immediately enjoy,” Bob Mudge, president of Verizon consumer and mass business markets, said in making the announcement Monday morning. Together, the companies have scale in both the physical and digital space. Verizon maintains nearly 109 million wireless connections in the U.S., and counts nearly 9 million broadband customers; Redbox, meanwhile, operates 35,000 kiosks nationwide, and touts more than 30 million active rental customers.

Armchair Quarterbacks: Mixed Impressions of Super Bowl on Second Screen

NBC’s free, live streaming of Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday piqued the second-screen interest of analysts and viewers alike. But the online performance was not free of stumbles. • The biggest surprise to viewers of the Super Bowl on NBCSports.com came during halftime, when instead of Madonna’s performance, the site streamed a rambling sportscaster chat from a hallway inside Lucas Oil Stadium (see TechCrunch’s report). StreamingMedia.com suspects licensing issues stood in the way. • The streams failed to stay in sync with the television broadcast of the game, frustrating some iPad viewers (see CNET). • Ads running during the stream were different than those on TV; as ads from a handful of companies (among them Budweiser, Chevy, GE, Relativity Media, and Samsung) began to repeat, it was evident — as paidContent had reported late last month — that online ad inventory had gone unsold.

Amazon to launch first brick-and-mortar store, report says (The Washington Post)

Amazon may be venturing beyond the world of online retail to set up its first brick-and-mortar shop, according to a report from Bloomberg News. The store will be in Seattle and its focus will be pricier merchandise such as tablet computers, the report says. And its footprint won’t be nearly as large as that of big box retailers such as Barnes & Noble….

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