AIRLINE INDUSTRY INFORMATION-(C)1997-2000 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD
A new joint venture between Inmarsat Ventures and Live Inflight Video Entertainment Ltd, called Airia Ltd, will mean that aircraft passengers can have access to live television news and sports broadcasts on long-haul flights.
The service is expected to be commercially available in the second half of 2001 and will make use of Inmarsat's existing 64,000 bps satellite-based data service.
A spokesperson for Inmarsat indicated that the joint venture will be able to use antennas already installed on many aircraft since about two thirds of the world's airlines already use Inmarsat's service for voice and data.
It is expected that First and Business Class passengers will be able to access the service free of charge, while economy class passengers will have pay-per-view service. News coverage will be provided by the BBC, and Trans World National will provide sports event coverage according to Newsbytes.com.
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