China Eastern launches local live TV on board with Panasonic Avionics

Live television in flight is coming to China. Panasonic Avionics will deliver multiple channels of live TV service to China Eastern as the launch customer of its expanded channel selection, adding multiple Chinese broadcasters to its portfolio.

China is a strategically important market for Panasonic Avionics, and we are delighted to welcome China Eastern as the first airline in this market to launch our Live Television service. Their passengers can now stay up to date with global news and sporting events in-flight, taking advantage of the additional satellite capacity we have just invested in over China.

– Ken Sain, CEO, Panasonic Avionics

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The China Eastern wide-body fleet of Airbus A330, A350 and Boeing B777 and B787 are expected to add the service on board. Initial content includes feeds from CCTV and CGTN.

The ability to add the new channels comes, in part, thanks to the activation of APSTAR-6D and the increased network capacity it offers over China.

PAC reported the APSTAR 6D satellite active in February 2021, increasing capacity across the Asia Pacific region. Bringing the China capacity online required additional integration with a local ground station, however.

With that testing completed and the Beijing teleport online, airlines flying over China can take advantage of the boost in available bandwidth. This now includes the extra TV feeds running on the satellite.

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APSTAR 6D provides airlines flying across Asia Pacific with multiple gigahertz of new Ku-band capacity over China, including high-density air traffic routes across East Asia using XTS spot beams. APSTAR delivers 90 beams across the whole region, and 50 Gbps in capacity.

More about in-flight connectivity over China:

• Panasonic Avionics boosts China capacity with APSTAR 6D
• Panasonic Avionics activates first XTS payload, boost connectivity capacity in Asia
• SkyFive makes major 5G inflight connectivity progress in China