Aircraft

JetBlue Airways subsidiary LiveTV will soon bring nearly 100 channels of in-flight live television to Continental Airlines' Boeing aircraft, after its satellite television partner DIRECTV inked a content deal with Viacom for rights to an additional 18 channels.

LiveTV's head of marketing Mike Moeller tells ATI that the new agreement between DIRECTV and Viacom brings highly-popular channels such as MTV, Nickelodeon, VHI, Comedy Central, LifeTime and others to the DIRECTV line-up and, as a consequence, the firm can stream these channels to Continental passengers over its newest in-flight live television system LTV.

Continental is equipping its Boeing domestic fleet with LTV3. The next generation in-flight live television offering, currently installed on Continental's Boeing 737-900ER aircraft, offers 77 channels. With the Viacom deal in place, Continental will offer 95 channels to passengers.

Moeller says supplemental type certification has been secured for equipage of LTV3 on Continental's 737-800s. Installation of the first aircraft has already been completed.