IFN/GLOBALSTAR GOES HOLLYWOOD
Friday September 15 05:26 AM EDT
In-Flight live TV, Web gets ready for takeoff
By Paul Bond
LOS ANGELES (The Hollywood Reporter) --- News Corp. on Thursday unveiled details of its joint effort with Rockwell International Corp. (NYSE:ROK - news) to put Internet access and live television on commercial airlines.
News Corp. and Rockwell's electronic equipment division, Rockwell Collins, announced in March their creation of a new company known as In-Flight Network Llc. (HR 3/7). IFN gave dozens of journalists a sneak peek Wednesday at the product via plane rides from Mercury Air Center in Burbank.
IFN is competing with another startup company, Connexion, which is also racing to hook airline passengers into television and the Internet. Connexion is a joint effort from the Boeing Co., Loral Space & Communications, Matsushita, Mitsubishi, Alenia and Finmeccanica SpA.
Boeing has estimated that the market for such a service will reach $70 billion within the decade.
IFN chief and News Corp. senior vp Jeffrey Wales said he expects to offer IFN's service commercially by the fourth quarter of 2001 and is primarily targeting frequent fliers who wouldnÕt balk at paying a monthly subscription fee of $20 or more.
In addition to the ability to surf the Internet, check e-mail and instant-message from air to ground and from one airplane to another, the IFN service will allow passengers to watch live televised sporting events and a wide array of prerecorded entertainment.Airlines also will be able to customize the programming per flight and on short notice while inserting ads based on various criteria, so passengers headed to New York might see an ad for a Broadway show, while those headed to Las Vegas might see an ad for "Siegfried and Roy." Airlines might even be able to send one set of commercials to its first-class passengers and a different set to its coach passengers.
Wales wouldn't say how much News Corp. is spending on the venture. Airlines that become "network affiliates" might share in revenue generated from the service and receive the equipment and maintenance free.
"The airlines are direct profit and equity participants," Wales said.
Some airlines might offer computers at seats, while others might offer the connectivity and let passengers supply their own laptop computers, Wales said.
As for live events like sports and concerts, IFN still needs to work out rights issues, Wales said. "But once we get the rights, sponsors will pay," he said.
IFN is employing technology already in use by News Corp.'s satellite TV divisions as well as satellite technology and components provided by Globalstar and Qualcomm.
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