Posted by Susan O’Driscoll
American Airlines and its Wi-Fi Internet service provider, Aircell, say they hope to introduce a new entertainment option for passengers wishing to stream movies or TV episodes onto their laptop or smartphone while in the air.
American Airlines is testing the service and plans to introduce it later this year if tests go well and the Federal Aviation Administration signs off on it. No price has been confirmed yet but it should be similar to downloading pay-per-view movies at home
Customers who want to buy a movie or TV episode won't be required to pay for Internet access to see them, which could make the pay-per-view option attractive.
"If all you're interested in is watching a movie, this is a better choice," says Doug Backelin, American Airlines' manager of in-flight communications and technology.
“Aircell uses an air-to-ground technology to transmit data, but the video service won't use that pipe for its pay-per-view service. Instead, the entertainment will be stored in a server on the plane to ensure that the Internet speed for other passengers won't be slowed, Backelin says.
"This system was designed to handle both and not tie up the bandwidth up and down," he says.
Eric Lemond of Aircell says the movie menu will feature a mix of movies already released on the DVD market, recently aired TV shows and old classics.
The service likely won't be a big moneymaker for American because the studios will demand a hefty portion of revenue, says Michael Planey, an in-flight entertainment industry consultant.
"It's a precursor to what you're going to see five or six years from now when in-seat video systems will use wireless networks from the server (to deliver content) to individual seat monitors," he says.
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