fuboTV is taking to the skies and making its live TV and on demand content available during a flight. This is the result of a new partnership between fuboTV and communications company, Viasat. The new deal has been marketed as a first for the industry.
fuboTV already offers subscribers the option to watch live TV and on demand content on a variety of devices, at home and on the go. Now it seems that support has been extended to the skies as well. What’s more, although the TV and catalog content will be streamed, this deal does not require passengers to pay for an in-flight Wi-Fi pass. The two companies expect to overcome the typical in-flight connection reliability issues by drawing on technology standards set out by the Streaming Video Alliance.
Traveling on an airline that takes advantage of this partnership, passengers with a fuboTV subscription will be able to either tune in to any of fuboTV’s live TV channels or pick from more than 30,000+ TV shows and movies available on demand. Passengers without a fuboTV subscription will either be able to watch content for free through the fubo Sports Network or sign up for a seven-day fuboTV free trial during the flight and immediately have access to the fuboTV live and on demand content.
Neither company has confirmed exactly when the in-flight service goes live, or what specific airlines are supporting the initiative.
Passenger flights the next streaming battleground?
The battle for streaming subscription dollars looks like it might be starting to take to the skies. While Viasat and fuboTV have announced this as a “one-of-a-kind” deal, it is not the first time a subscription service has announced in-flight access. Back in December, and shortly after the service’s launch, Disney confirmed it was bringing its Disney+ subscription services to the IFE on Delta flights.
Similar to the current fuboTV announcement, Disney made its content available to existing subscribers, but more importantly, also offers non-subscribers the option to start a subscription while en route. With fuboTV now offering the same option to sign up while in the air, it might be the case that streaming services are seeing the in flight experience as a new opportunity to lure in new subscribers.
If that’s the case, it is likely this won’t be the last announcement of its kind to come through.
Source: Viasat
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