Row 44 Unveils In-flight Entertainment and Productivity Portal

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif., Oct. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Row 44, Inc., a provider of satellite-based in-flight Wi-Fi for commercial aircraft, today announced a walled-garden service that enables airlines to rapidly offer additional revenue-generating entertainment, shopping and productivity options to the flying public. The new service, Skytown Center, is the first of several products designed to fully leverage an airline's investment in in-flight connectivity. Rollout partners include SkyMall, which will manage retail partners and their operations; multichannel retailer HSN, which will offer its live online video programming; and specialists in travel and mobility like JiWire, BeDynamic and Pinger. First fly date is targeted for November 1, in time for the holiday shopping season.

"SkyMall is excited to expand its role as the in-flight retail consolidator to Skytown Center. From this platform, we can offer customers the ability to shop from a wide variety of retailers during their flight, allowing them to be more productive when they are traveling. For retailers, this new platform will provide another way to reach the highly desirable and captive air traveler," said Casey Christ, Vice President of Airline Marketing for SkyMall. "Row 44 has developed an outstanding platform and this program is a natural evolution of the SkyMall program which will allow us to drive more revenue for our airline partners while enhancing the overall customer experience onboard."

The walled garden is accessible at no charge to all passengers with supported Wi-Fi-enabled devices, regardless of their interest in purchasing Internet access. Flyers can use it to shop at major retailers, view live television, play games, and explore their destination cities - even booking ground-based services and events before they land. A paid SMS-gateway texting feature will also be offered, allowing passengers to send and receive messages to mobile phone users on the ground.

The availability of Skytown Center begins with a pilot period where various service models will be tested. It also includes a technical trial of live television streamed over IP and simultaneous broadcast to multiple aircraft while in flight.

"As an innovative leader in the multi-channel industry, HSN is the first retailer to offer live video streaming across three screens - television, online and via mobile - and we are thrilled to be partnering with Row 44 as the first TV shopping network to broadcast live via Wi-Fi more than 10,000 feet in the air," said John McDevitt, Vice President, Advanced Services. "This innovative new platform is a great opportunity for us to raise our brand awareness while generating revenue from a highly desirable customer base."

The Skytown Center portal is available for rebranding and customization by any airline using the Row 44 in-flight broadband system.

"Pent up demand for in-flight Internet access is the key driver in the airline industry's desire to purchase connectivity for their fleets," said Wendy Campanella, Row 44's VP of business development. "But our customers understand that it's simply the first step in fully leveraging aircraft connectivity, and that there are many additional potential revenue streams. Skytown Center is designed to speed them down this path."

About Row 44

Row 44, Inc. is a leading in-flight connectivity service provider to commercial aviation. The company's Wi-Fi hotspots in the sky offer the fastest broadband speeds to the plane. Row 44's broadband solution is supported by the expansive infrastructure of Hughes, which has shipped more than 1.9 million broadband satellite terminals to customers in over 100 countries.