Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Southwest Airlines Offers DISH TV For Free, Thanks To Row 44

Southwest Airlines and satellite television provider DISH said today that they will begin offering free, live TV and on-demand TV access to Southwest Airlines customers. The new service comes thanks to a local company, Westlake Village-based Row 44, which offers up in-flight entertainment and connectity systems. According to DISH and Southwest, they will offer up free, live and on-demand TV to customers using iPad, iPod touch, and other personal devices, on the 400 Southwest airplanes which have Wi-Fi service.

Row 44, which is now part of Global Eagle Entertainment, is providing all of the systems required to deliver the service. Row 44 has been Southwest's longtime satellite Internet and entertainment partner. Southwest said the service provides both live television as well as up to 75 on-demand shows on its Wi-Fi enabled flights; the airline previously charged $5 a day for access to the entertainment channels.

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