Thursday, March 29, 2012

Row 44 Offers VOD, Without Broadband

In an interesting shift of its strategy, Westlake Village-based Row 44, the provider of in-flight broadband systems for the commercial airline industry, said this week that it will offer up its new, wireless video-on-demand (VOD) service to airlines--even if they don't want to tap into the firm's satellite broadband wireless services. Row 44 said its new entertainment service allows passengers to stream movies and television on-demand, via their Wi-Fi devices. Row 44 did say that airlines can later upgrade their platform to include broadband connectivity, if they want. Row 44 said this week that it has linked with MLBAAM to power its video on demand services; the service can pull video updates on the ground from inexpensive Wi-Fi connections. Row 44 said its service is ideal for airlines who do not want to incur the cost, weight, and installation time of in-flight entertainment hardware and screens.