When Super Bowl LIX kicks off on Sunday more travelers than ever will have the opportunity to watch the game while flying. And at least some will be doing so through an interesting twist in content licensing partnerships.
Viasat shared that 2,000 aircraft fitted with its inflight internet service will offer passengers the option to watch. As the primary IFC provider for United Airlines, that should be a natural fit. And while many United planes have screens on board, not all of those have live television available to watch the Fox feed. But the Viasat planes with screens will all have the Super Bowl on board.
With the United implementation a QR code on the IFE screen will lead to a landing page on personal devices, allowing the game to be streamed. Passengers will need to connect to the United Wi-Fi, but will not have to pay for a session to be able to stream the content.
Notably, this streaming deal was developed in partnership with DirecTV. Historically inflight sports, especially high profile events, has been the exclusive realm of Sport24, distributed by Panasonic Avionics. That’s what Qatar Airways leaned on to stream the World Cup across its fleet in 2022. But DirecTV is pushing hard into the market. The company staked a claim in late 2023 and appears to be successfully growing its reach.
Delta Air Lines passengers can also stream the game if desired, though that’s less special these days since all WiFi is free on board. American Airlines has a lot of planes with Viasat on board, but is not advertising the game. That the carrier is not bragging about that suggests it will not be making it available for free on board.
Air Canada is also advertising the big game on board, though through a more traditional approach. The carrier offers TSN as one of the handful of live TV channels on its IFE platform. That continues to be free on board as the carrier expands the number of aircraft carrying live television services (including transborder flights).
And Sport24 will be carrying the game so many international carriers will also have it available on board. That’s a lot of football flying on Sunday evening.
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