LiveTV the in-plane television system owned by JetBlue Airways has agreed to buy Verizons Airfone network to develop in-flight email and Internet services.
JetBlue and other airlines, such as Continental, use LiveTV’s satellite-based television programming service. The Airfone network, supported by 100 base stations scattered across the United States, will take effect, Jan. 1, 2009. Competitor AirCell, built its own network of air-to-ground communications towers.
Airfone was a leader in in-flight phones on planes, notes the Wall Street Journal. But in 2006, the FCC auctioned off the spectrum Airfone was using, with LiveTV purchasing one MHz and AirCell the other three. No doubt, Verizon’s Airfone will be converted to a digital system for email and messaging suppliment for LiveTV.
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