Live TV Coming to Continental Flights

Jan. 30, 2008— -- Forget channel surfing from the couch. Soon, more TV lovers will be flipping channels from the sky.

Continental Airlines, one of the world's largest carriers, has struck a deal to provide most of its domestic flights with 36 channels of live TV, including CBS, NBC, ESPN, Fox News, CNN Headline News, MTV, Animal Planet and the Food Network. The service will be free for first-class and $6 in economy.

Flights will be equipped with the service starting in January 2009, Continental spokesman David Messing said.

The airline has reached an agreement with a competing airline subsidiary to provide the live programming. Continental is partnering with the inflight entertainment service LiveTV, a unit of JetBlue Airways, which will also provide the carrier with Wi-Fi services including e-mail and instant messaging.

"We looked at the different offerings in the market place and this [LiveTV] seems to be the best one for what we think our customers will be expecting," Messing said. "Regardless of the fact that it's sold by a competing airline subsidiary, we think it's the right product for us."

Continental has, in recent years, promoted itself with a campaign emphasizing its continued amenities, including free meals, at a time when other airlines were cutting back.

But the carrier is not alone when it comes to live TV. JetBlue began offering the service -- which is free to all JetBlue passengers -- shortly after flights began in 2000. At the time, LiveTV was a separate company, contracting with JetBlue. The airline carrier purchased LiveTV in 2002.

In addition to Jet Blue, LiveTV currently provides television entertainment systems to three airlines, but Continental is the first big-name carrier to sign up for the service, said Bryan Baldwin, the manager of corporate communications for JetBlue.

"This was the perfect opportunity for LiveTV to really branch out," Baldwin said.