Entertainment taking flight on Virgin

Filed in archive Announcements on August 16, 2007

If you are like me, you have to fly between California and New York often (uggggh!). So, you may also have heard that Virgin America started up new routes last week. I look forward to flying it sometime since first class round trip costs only $1100 but it is always sold out.

Anyways, I mention this because that service also made the skies a lot friendlier for Hollywood. At the very least, Virgin's 10 Airbus jets have turned into a new revenue generator for distributors.

That's because Virgin America cabins feature Red, an interactive in-flight entertainment system that offers a library of movies, TV shows, music, musicvids and videogames in addition to Dish satellite TV and typically quirky Virgin extras such as the ability to instant message fellow passengers.

Airline charges $8 per pic - a somewhat steep price to watch "Spider-Man 3," "Shrek the Third," "Zodiac," "28 Weeks Later," "Disturbia" or "300" on a nine-inch screen. At least the pics are unedited.

TV shows like "The Office," "The Simpsons," "Prison Break," "jericho," "Bones," "How I Met Your Mother" - even "Twin Peaks" - cost $1.99 per episode.

Available for free is a library of 3,000 music tracks, radio stations and vidgames, including violent shooter "Doom" and the plane-unfriendly "Mad Bomber."

Maybe on second thought, I will stick with my normal carriers.