How much does the A330 AVOD system "cost" to provide?

[PHL]

Flew PHL-SJU this past weekend on the A330-200, and was lucky to get the new Envoy seating up front in both directions. Ship 279 flew us on the trip down, but I forgot to look at the reg. # on the way back.

But it got me to wondering - what does it really cost the company to provide passengers access to the AVOD system? The whole trip, experience, and service in the cabin was really great but then the let down (which I knew in advance) was that the IFE was off. I realize that this is due to the policy to only provide IFE on the TA and South American flights (and Hawaii?). But honestly, if it's one RT per day to SJU and another to CLT, would it kill the company to allow the passengers to take advantage of it? How much would this cost? Does the airline pay by the length of the trip or just by how many legs that it's on? With the 767 in the old Envoy cabin, I recall that the tapes were loaded/offloaded with each international flight and carefully secured. For a time, those tapes were made available to the PHL-LAX 767 trips, too. But does anything really have to be done on the A330 other than flip a switch?

 

[SparrowHawk]

My understanding is it's not the hardware costs. Apparently the "real" cost is in royalities to content providers

 

[AstroLounge]

When I saw the initial Subject Post, my immediate response was "When it works ?" tHE ORIGINAL AVOD SYSTEM ON THE A330-300 IS ONE HELLUVA DOG SYSTEM.........always has been and has only become worse over time. Even when the system was NEW (late '90s) SONY deployed a "Technician" on the a/c to remedy the techno glitches which came up repeatedly. Throw Team Tempe into the mix and their unsatiable desire to ADD more seats on the plane, it has been stated that the SERVER cannot handle the added seats and deliver a RELIABLE product. The original AVOD is hit or miss.......either it works with minimal issues or is a colossal joke (one worthy of taking a hammer to to put it out of it's misery). Pax do not understand and/or accept a faulty entertainment system on a 10 hour flight and want to personally hold the Cabin Crew responsible for a faulty screen or 'dead seat'. The SYSTEM needs to be replaced N-O-W. As far as using the AVOD system on a PHL-SJU segment, "Why would You?". US only offers video/audio on the aforementioned routes (TA/South America/Hawaii). And You certainly do not want to get into an Airplane specific 'offering'. The beancounters obviously saw the numbers generated on subscribing to the service on all flights in the past and the numbers just don't add up to paying for a system that brings in little revenue. Offering movies and audio on all flights is a GREAT Perk but someone needs to pay for it. I would love to see an ENTERTAINMENT Package offered but it needs to be Ala Carte..........get a system that WORKS, is reliable and Appealing to the Average Customer.

 

[vsi0]

With iPods/iPhones/iPads and all of their rivals, the passenger just needs a way to jack into a larger screen and internet service...this way you bring the shows you would like to see and maybe even Tempe could keep that type of system up and running! :unsure:

 

[AstroLounge]

With iPods/iPhones/iPads and all of their rivals, the passenger just needs a way to jack into a larger screen and internet service...this way you bring the shows you would like to see and maybe even Tempe could keep that type of system up and running! :unsure:

That all sounds fine and dandy BUT, 'Someone needs to PAY for it'. Unless a vendor is able to provide a service and solicit advertising to overcome the COST and Investment in the system, there NEEDS to be a REVENUE Stream. Nothing is for FREE. And expecting the Airline to PAY for the System and offer IT Gratis is NOT Going to Happen. (I am all for onboard entertainment <outside the realm of the occassional Jack* that surfaces onboard> but something needs to improve in the offering onboard).

 

[USFlyer]

And You certainly do not want to get into an Airplane specific 'offering'.

Why not? Some of Delta's planes have AVOD (on demand video, moving map, etc.) and that system is on regardless of the route being flown.

 

[marco90821]

But back to the original question before all of the debate...what does it cost? It is based on legs, mileage, number of pax? How is it priced, and how much does it cost? That is the gist of what the original poster is simply asking.

 

[vsi0]

That all sounds fine and dandy BUT, 'Someone needs to PAY for it'. Unless a vendor is able to provide a service and solicit advertising to overcome the COST and Investment in the system, there NEEDS to be a REVENUE Stream. Nothing is for FREE. And expecting the Airline to PAY for the System and offer IT Gratis is NOT Going to Happen. (I am all for onboard entertainment <outside the realm of the occassional Jack* that surfaces onboard> but something needs to improve in the offering onboard).

I was not suggesting that the system would be free! Only that the proliferation of media devices reduces the needs of the company to providing the access plugs and screens...one time fee plus maintenance. Of course the 'net is paid for by the customer.

How would Tempe pay for the system I've described--one way could be to let Sony or some such enterprise announce to the world how great the video service is on LCC.

With Tempe's track record on implementing new hardware the simpler the better. In this example the customer also wins.

Next week during my TLV vaca--the iPad will be multi tasking with no worries of the aircraft's audio/video status.

 

[phllax]

But back to the original question before all of the debate...what does it cost? It is based on legs, mileage, number of pax? How is it priced, and how much does it cost? That is the gist of what the original poster is simply asking.

Without a doubt I can tell you that for the non-330 aircraft, they paid a license fee per showing of each movie and short subject. Don't know the fee structure.

 

[BoeingBoy]

But back to the original question before all of the debate...what does it cost? It is based on legs, mileage, number of pax? How is it priced, and how much does it cost? That is the gist of what the original poster is simply asking.

Can't answer that type of specific question but back when they announced the removal of IFE from the fleet over 2/3 of the cost savings was the cost of the content.

Jim