Byo Entertainment!

[wnbubbleboy]

Movielink and Southwest Airlines Launch Co-Branded Movie Downloading Service for Southwest Customers; Site to Offer Special Download Discounts for Southwest Online Customers

SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 25, 2005--
Stop searching... Start downloading... Start traveling...





Movielink (www.Movielink.com), the broadband video-on-demand (VOD) service offering more than a thousand movies for legal download, and Southwest Airlines announced today the launch of a co-branded movie downloading service exclusively for Southwest Customers. Southwest Customers can reach the co-branded site by linking through Southwest Airline's website at www.southwest.com/movielink.

Southwest Customers will now have access to film titles available from Movielink, and can download movies on their laptops before flights to view while traveling whenever and wherever they want. Customers must use a high-speed Internet connection to download a movie, but the computer does not need to stay connected to the Internet to play back the film.

Southwest will offer Customers who are new to Movielink with coupons valid for a first transaction. In addition, Movielink will offer Southwest Customers special discounts throughout the year that will only be available on the Movielink/Southwest co-branded site.

"Whether taking a short hop or a flight across the country, entertainment plays a key role in the travel experience. Through this relationship, we provide Southwest travelers with a convenient, easy and legal way to download movies that they can take with them and view anytime, anywhere," said Jim Ramo, CEO of Movielink. "Movielink offers Southwest Customers the ability to enjoy watching films on a flight via their laptop, while sitting poolside or resting in their hotel room, and of course, while staying at home, on a PC or a connected TV monitor."

"Southwest is excited to give our Customers yet another reason to visit www.southwest.com. Our relationship with Movielink will give our Customers access to entertainment content which they can easily view on their own laptops when they travel," said Joyce Rogge, Southwest's Senior Vice President of Marketing. "We know our Customers will take advantage of this offer from Southwest and Movielink to make an already easy and convenient travel experience with Southwest even more fun!"

The Movielink/Southwest service is available to Southwest Customers who are U.S. Internet users with broadband connections. Customers can easily browse the user-friendly site and view trailers of available titles without charge. Once they are ready to rent a title, they register with Movielink/Southwest and pay for their rental via credit card. Downloads range between $1.99 and $4.99. Movielink's Movies in Minutes(tm) feature lets Customers begin watching titles within 2-10 minutes, or store them for up to 30 days and experience unlimited viewing for any 24-hour period. Customers can also use Movielink's MultiPlay(tm) feature to re-rent titles for additional 24-hour viewing periods for up to 30 days after the initial rental.

About Movielink

Movielink (www.movielink.com) is the online movie download service offering U.S. broadband customers an extensive selection of recently released films and classic movies covering every genre, from action, comedy, drama, family and romance to sci-fi, horror and thrillers. The service is owned and operated by Movielink, LLC, a joint venture of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios and Warner Bros. Studios. Movielink content offerings are drawn from the current releases and vast libraries of those studios, as well as from those of Walt Disney Pictures, Miramax, Artisan and others, on a non-exclusive basis.

 

[SWAFA30]

I think a deal with an outfit like NetFlix would have been a little more practical. Not everyone has a laptop, on the otherhand...you can practically get one of those cheapo portable DVD players as the secret prize in a box of Captain Crunch. They're everywhere. Besides...how much time and bandwith does it take to download an entire movie...I have to think the files are huge.

 

[wnbubbleboy]

I think a deal with an outfit like NetFlix would have been a little more practical. Not everyone has a laptop, on the otherhand...you can practically get one of those cheapo portable DVD players as the secret prize in a box of Captain Crunch. They're everywhere. Besides...how much time and bandwith does it take to download an entire movie...I have to think the files are huge.

[post="243487"][/post]​

Netfix would be great too.

Order the movie when you make your reservation and get the DVD with the return mailing label when you get your boarding pass. Drop in back in the mail when your done get another movie to watch on your way back when you pick up your boarding pass for the trip back home.

 

[ngneer]

With the price of portable DVD players coming down and the popularity of MP3 players, it makes sense for SWA to avoid the expense of outfitting their planes with IFE systems. It's becoming affordable for people to purchase their own electronic IFE. As a result, I expect to see DVD rental stores spring up in airports. You pick out what you want before the flight and drop it off after you get off the plane.

There probably won't be a lot of takers for the Movielink service SWA is offering, but I have to hand it to them to come up with a way to provide some IFE service at no cost to themselves.

 

[KCFlyer]

I've never understood the need for IFE. I've been travelling by air for 40 years, and my form of IFE has been a good book. In later years, a walkman with music to listen to while reading. But I find reading a far better "escape" and a great way to pass time on a long flight.

 

[continuous ignition]

I've never understood it either... I think its the lazyness in people these days. Why should they entertain themselves by reading when they can do some brainless activity like watch a movie/tv.

A sign of being coddled too much maybe?

I agree with KC, I always bring a good pair of ear plugs and a book, magazine or crossword puzzle..

I just hope the feds have enough sense to keep the ban on cell phones during flight. I can't even imagine having to listen to 100 people talk about their issues while trapped in a high speed metal tube..

 

[mweiss]

I think what you're missing is that IFE is not a need. It's a want, and one that is of interest to a sufficently large segment of the population as to affect demand for individual carriers.