Wi-Fi TV Pitches Its Service To Airlines
There's gold in them thar' cabins... at least, that's the hope of
Wi-Fi TV, a growing provider of Internet television. The company
announced Tuesday the availability of over 500 Internet TV
stations, including an increasing number of proprietary stations,
to a new viewing frontier.
In a release Tuesday, Wi-Fi TV said it expects a global boom in
in-flight Wi-Fi coverage over the next year... and the company
wants to be on the forefront as airlines increase the availability
of in-flight Web browsing, which could lead to a switch from
satellite-based in-flight TV and audio programming.
As ANN reported, last week American Airlines
rolled out Wi-Fi access on some flights. The airline launched its
in-flight Internet access service via Wi-Fi on 15 of its 767-200
airplanes. The service, called Gogo, will be offered on nonstop
flights between New York and San Francisco, New York and Los
Angeles, and New York and Miami. The cost is $12.95 per flight.
Passengers will be able to sign up when they boot up their
browsers.
The airline will be restricting the use of voice over IP
services, such as Skype, and it will still restrict the use of cell
phones in flight.
Gogo is a service offered by Aircell, which is also providing
Wi-Fi access to Delta Air Lines planes. Earlier this month, Delta
said it was outfitting all of its domestic feet with Wi-Fi by the
middle of next year. Virgin America, which is also using Aircell's
Gogo service, will launch its service by the end of the year, the
company has said.
And JetBlue Airways is testing its Wi-Fi access on routes
between San Francisco and New York. Southwest Airlines and Alaska
Airlines are also testing in-flight Wi-Fi. Other carriers, such as
United Airlines, say they are considering Wi-Fi, but it hasn't
announced tests or a commercial launch.
Aircell's pricing is uniform across all the airlines that use
it. The company charges $9.95 for flights of three hours or less.
And it's $12.95 for all flights over three hours. Initially,
American Airlines will only be offering Wi-Fi on coast-to-coast
flights.
Wi-Fi TV says it offers more live TV stations, complete with
live chat, than any domestic airline carrier offers by any other
delivery method. The company plans to host a "sales opportunity"
conference call Thursday, and is looking for sales agents for its
service.