Virgin America's screens to build up

Virgin America, which has suggested its entertainment options since getting rid of in 2007, will substantially overhaul its Red-colored-colored in-flight entertainment system late next season. The upgrade is notable for Hollywood thinking about the truth that San Francisco Bay Area-based Virgin remains busy brokering content deals and beginning its own production shingle Virgin Produced, whose professionals may have an important role in programming Red-colored-colored, incorporated within the relaunch. Red-colored-colored may even evolve more in to a lucrative platform for art galleries and TV systems, additionally to gamemakers and record labels, just like a platform to promote entertainment through VOD, but furthermore just like a advertising tool. Virgin America claims using Red-colored-colored has elevated 20% yearly since 2008. New system's finest change is going to be how large its seatback-based touchscreens, which will grow in the current nine inches and also have high-definition shows. The airline's monitors were already 25% bigger in comparison to-flight entertainment screens on domestic coach travel arrangements. The screens will let clients for hooking up their personal electronic items like laptops, pills and cell phones, enabling the airline travel, but furthermore content companies, a lot more options to market video and audio programming as downloads. It rents 25 movies for $8 each throughout travel arrangements, but bills you $5 to $7 for just about any movie adding to $2 for just about any Tv program once the new system bows. Aboard servers may even allow the airline travel to supply more content. Virgin professionals say you will discover expects to quadruple the amount of videos it presently offers using the hardware. It will still offer Wi-fi compatability aboard Virgin's planes. Airline travel was the initial domestic company to supply fleetwide Wi-fi compatability this past year. Entertainment options presently include live satellite tv, cached niche channels, greater than 35 on-demand films and premium Tv shows from cablers like Cinemax together with a 3,000 MP3 music library. All travel arrangements will feature re-energized channels this fall. "The idea behind Red-colored-colored is actually to reinvent the flight experience, by supplying travelers more options, with additional hold, more content plus much more interaction," mentioned David Cush, leader and Boss of Virgin America. "Our travelers want connectivity yes, additionally they want utilization of more media content and services that will improve their trip. You need to give our travelers more options instead of less." Lufthansa Systems' BoardConnect platform continues to be familiar with energy the completely new Red-colored-colored screens, that is positioned on all Virgin America's planes. It presently provides numerous 40 planes that's prone to grow to 57 by late 2013. The up-to-date Red-colored-colored system already continues to be examined on one of Virgin's Airbus A320's named #nerdbird, top tips for the hat to Twitter (company, we now have an energetic Twitter feed). System was revealed within the Airline travel Passenger Experience Assn Expo in Dallas on Tuesday. Contact Marc Graser at marc.graser@variety.com