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During
the next three months American Airlines will be testing, on select
flights, a wide variety of on-demand entertainment content, including movies, TV shows, games and
electronic newspapers and books, packaged in a new, hand-held Personal Entertainment Device.
"We are very excited to share this new solution with our passengers as they evaluate the latest in inflight entertainment," said
Mary McKee, Managing Director-Inflight Products for American Airlines. "We believe our customers will value the ability to
choose from a wide selection of entertainment options and will find that their flight is too short to enjoy all that these devices
offer. The content is designed to have broad appeal -- from the seasoned road warrior to families flying with their children."
The easy-to-use technology allows American to offer a large selection of entertainment options including:
Early-window movies (after-theater release, but before DVD or video release)
Music videos
Audio programming - 12 channels offering a variety of musical genres and business programs
TV comedy and drama programming, such as Cheers, Law & Order, and Without a Trace
Animated children's programs
Digital newspapers
Audio book excerpts
Card games, such as Solitaire and Black Jack
The lightweight, portable devices have an 8.9-inch wide Super Video Graphic Array (SVGA) Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screen,
support continuous play with a battery life of approximately five hours and offer two output headphone jacks.
During take-off and landing, the devices will be housed in a special cart that doubles as a content loading and charging docking
station while on the ground. Digital newspapers will be updated daily and other content, including movies and TV programs, will
be updated on a regular basis. The secure, digitally encrypted content will be stored on the hard drive of each device.
During the test, the devices will be distributed at no charge to passengers in the First Class cabin. Passengers in the Main cabin
can rent the devices for a fee of $10 to $12 (depending on the market) by simply swiping their credit card on the portable unit. All
of the "on demand" entertainment options will be available for that one flat fee. There will be no cash transactions for the
devices.
The units will be available in selected Chicago/Los Angeles, DFW/Seattle, Fort Lauderdale/Los Angeles and Chicago/Seattle
routes. The test will run through early February, 2005.
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American Airlines
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