March 30, 2005 – THE digeEplayer rush continues, with Pacific Blue, the international arm of Australian low-cost operation Virgin Blue, the latest to announce plans for the pioneering handheld system.

The airline plans to begin phasing in digEplayer from late May and aims to have units available on all its flights between Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands from June 13. Passengers will be able to rent a digEplayer for A$12 per flight. Sixty digEplayers will be available on each flight and content will be updated every 60 days. The handheld units will complement Pacific Blue’s existing audio entertainment.

“This innovative system is hugely popular on airlines that have introduced it in the USA and Europe,” says Virgin Blue chief executive Brett Godfrey. “We are confident that our passengers will also appreciate having it.”

Pacific Blue parent carrier Virgin Blue last year become the first airline outside North America to select LiveTV’s inflight television technology. It plans to use LiveTV hardware aboard its fleet of Boeing 737-700s and -800s to deliver to in-seat screens content supplied by Australian subscription TV companies Foxtel and Austar.

Content for Virgin Blue’s Live2Air service will comprise a total of 24 channels of live news, sport, comedy, lifestyle and children’s programmes, music, documentaries and general entertainment. Original content providers will include Sky News Australia, CNN, Comedy Channel, Fox Sports 1 and 2, and Nickelodeon. Cost to passengers for unlimited use throughout the flight will be no more than A$5.

Subject to Australian CAA approval, the service will be introduced from the middle of this year. In the meantime, it is being demonstrated in the carrier’s “Blue Room” airport lounges.