All aboard for Cruise line entertainment: below-deck entertainment is not what it used to be.

Cruise lines often brag about (no pun intended) blowing the competition out of the water with the best live shows, best destinations, and even best food (when it doesn't cause gastroenteritis) ... but best in-room entertainment? Strange as it may seem that someone would pay big bucks for a cruise vacation and opt to stay inside, cruise lines provide ample entertainment for those who choose (or are forced) to remain indoors. An increased attendance of cruise companies at last May's Los Angeles Screenings signaled the fact that entertainment in the staterooms (a.k.a. cabins) may start giving on-deck activities a run for their money.

"While we always encourage passengers to get involved in activities, there are points in the day when watching TV is important," said Charly McDonald, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines' manager of Guest Activities. "We're never going to be able to provide passengers with as much entertainment as they get from their living rooms, but at the very least we need to have sports and news," he said. But Royal Caribbean (RC) goes way beyond the bare minimum when it comes to entertainment. Each one of RC's ships has a broadcast room that, according to McDonald, "rivals a cable channel." Depending on the travel itinerary, each broadcast room is controlled by three-to-five broadcast technicians. They handle satellite channel retransmissions (for channels such as ESPN International and CNN International) as well as transmission of unique-to-Royal Caribbean channels.

Carrie Trimmer, director of Licensing at AETN International, said her company doesn't stream 24/7 channel feeds on cruise lines because of location issues, and instead sticks to individual program sales. "Ships move around more, and often travel into places that don't accept satellite channels," she explained.

All the major cruise lines have their own in-cabin, genre-specific channels to which content providers can sell their wares. In the case of Crystal Cruises, for example, there are a number of unique niche channels, including one for comedy, one that features action/adventure movies and a classics channel. In total there are 13 channels running programming 24-hours-a-day.

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Following the success of CBS Eye on American--a partnership between CBS and American Airlines--CBS approached Royal Caribbean about doing a similar deal aboard its fleet. RC was happy to oblige. "CBS Eye on Royal Caribbean [a programming block that airs on the RCtv channel] features CBS News, CBS Sports, comedies and entertainment series, and is updated every two months," explained McDonald.

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The TV series release window for cruise lines is similar to the syndication window. Studios will always wait until a series has at least one season on the air before selling it to cruise lines. But thanks to satellite feeds, some live programs can be aired on cruise ships. "Our [satellite] technology allows us to virtually license and receive any event in the world. We have been able to provide Premier League [soccer] championships and the Superbowl," said Chris Hodek, a spokesperson for Cunard.

Cruise line movies follow the same release window as airline entertainment. They are usually available about three months after their theatrical debuts. Before the flicks are shown inside cabins, an unedited version is sometimes available on a big movie theater-type screen. According to Crystal Cruises' spokesperson Mimi Weisband, onboard cinemas are becoming rarer as cruise lines make way for bigger money-makers, like casinos and bars. "But we love the big-screen setting of our [134-to-205-seat] Hollywood Theaters," she said.

In-room movies are, like airline movies, often edited to appeal to wider audiences. But since cruises are geared toward more specific demos (i.e. singles or families), some original, non-edited versions are offered. Generally, R-rated movies are offered via the increasingly common in-cabin VoD services. This is the case with Cunard's Queen Mary 2. "It is very seldom we would schedule an R-rated film in [our 500-seat theater] Illuminations," said Hodek. "However some movies may have that appeal and demand. Each movie is analyzed on a case-by-case basis and we will take into consideration the movie's wide appeal and popularity when scheduling it in the theater," he said.

Adult entertainment, which is only available on some cruise lines, but brings in big bucks for those that show it, is always available on a pay-per-view basis only. Parents can often restrict access using their remotes.

As is the case with airline entertainment, cruise ships depend on agents to sell them content. In fact, distributors almost always farm their cruise sales out to agents, as the amount of money up for grabs doesn't compare to airline sales (cruise line passengers are not as captive an audience, and the number of ships pales in comparison to that of airplanes).

When it comes to the cruise line business model, most lines will pay distributors a monthly fee (with series and movies remaining on-air anywhere from one month to one year). In the case of pay-per-view or VoD titles, the content rights' holders take a piece of the selection fee charged to passengers (usually somewhere between $10-12 per title).

Two U.S.-based companies handle the majority of cruise entertainment and act as intermediaries between the big cruise lines and content providers. Missouri-based On-Board, which controls 90 percent of the market, is a division of non-theatrical distributor Swank Motion Pictures (which distributes to hospitals, colleges, prisons and school libraries, among other places). The company represents all of the Hollywood studios (sans Fox) and distributes studio movies and TV series to all cruise lines. Representatives sometimes attend the L.A. Screenings too. The much-smaller California-based Sea Movies counts some of the biggest cruise lines, distributors (AETN International being one of them), and Fox among its clients and works with airline agents Entertainment in Motion and Jaguar Distribution, as well.

Pilot Productions, a London-based producer and distributor of adventure travel guides like Globe Trekkers and Planet Food, is an obvious fit for closed circuit businesses like cruise line entertainment. "This is new for us," said Maria Ishak, Sales and Marketing coordinator at Pilot. "We're working closely to sell our series to the cruise lines. Our programs are an easy fit because the cruise lines can use them to promote their destinations." Ishak added that the show's impressive scenery means they can be used in a non-audio way, as background when guests get ready in their rooms.

"Cruise lines see a value in choosing the most appropriate series for each individual ship," said AETN's Trimmer. "They tend to choose lifestyle programming or programming that directly correlates with the passengers' activities or the ships' destinations." AETN series that have been particularly popular with the cruse lines are Ocean Liners, an episode from The History Channel's Modern Marvels series, and Golf Links in Time. Crystal Cruises' Weisband said her company's program specials often feature in-depth explorations of cruise destinations; and around Christmas-time, holiday programming and movies are shown more frequently.

As for the future of airline entertainment, Sea Movies' Baren said that, not unlike every other aspect of the business, it's all about digitalization. "The ships have limitless storage space, which is much better for the industry," he said. "It means there's definitely a higher demand."

This, from a content provider's standpoint, is good news. "Along with airline program sales, it's a business that's been growing in the last few years. Cruise line sales can provide additional revenue out of programs already in our catalogue," said Trimmer.