Partnership to offer sports video streaming on flights

Viasat has teamed up with fuboTV to offer over-the-top video streaming of sports, news and other programs to commercial airline passengers.

The partnership furthers Viasat bid to boost usage of its satellite-based in-flight Wi-Fi, which currently powers on-board Internet for passengers on American Airlines, JetBlue and United Airlines aircraft, as well as other commercial airlines globally.

The fuboTV deal is new. Financial terms weren’t disclosed. None of Viasat’s airline customers have signed up for the service yet, which is only available on flights within the U.S.

But the partnership is believed to be the first over-the-top Internet TV streaming service specifically targeted toward airline passengers.

“One of the reasons fuboTV is really interesting to us is sports,” said Grant Markhart, who works in strategic partnerships for Viasat. “Live sports drive a lot of demand. fuboTV offers a pretty large sports package. One of the ways we can show off our technology advantages is to demonstrate to people they can watch live sports in-flight.”

The Viasat/fuboTV partnership is similar to a sponsored content program from American Airlines that lets Apple Music subscribers stream songs without paying for in-flight Wi-Fi.

With fuboTV, airlines can sign up to offer the streaming TV service on their Viasat-equipped aircraft. Passengers will receive free access to fuboTV ‘s Sports Network channel, which has limited content, without having to pay for in-flight Wi-Fi.