Summary:
- United Airlines and DIRECTV are enabling live TV streaming on Starlink-enabled seatback screens across up to 150 aircraft through 20 July 2026.
- The initiative allows passengers to watch live sports, including FIFA World Cup coverage, alongside news and entertainment channels inflight.
- Powered by Starlink connectivity, the collaboration showcases the evolution of inflight entertainment toward real-time, streaming-based experiences.
United Airlines and DIRECTV are partnering to enable travellers to watch live streaming TV on Starlink-enabled, United seatback screens through 20 July 2026, allowing them to catch all the action from the FIFA World Cup on as many as 150 aircraft.
Through DIRECTV and BBC, United customers on these aircraft have free access to more than a dozen live TV channels, including FOX, Fox Sports 1, Apple F1, ABC, ESPN, TNT, CNN, CBS, NBC, TBS and BBC News, offering live soccer, sports, news, weather, business and entertainment.
In 2024, United signed the industry’s largest agreement of its kind with SpaceX to bring Starlink’s fast, reliable WiFi service to the airline’s mainline and regional aircraft fleet, for free for MileagePlus members. Today, Starlink is active on more than 400 United mainline and United Express aircraft, and the carrier expects to outfit its entire fleet before the end of 2027.
“United is adding Starlink to more aircraft than any other airline in the world and teaming up with DIRECTV is a way for us to give customers a glimpse into the future of inflight entertainment with live sports and do it during one of the world’s most popular sporting events,” said Andrew Nocella, Chief Commercial Officer, United Airlines. “Our journey started nearly a decade ago with a decision to install screens in every seat. We already have more than 160,000 screens across our fleet, with plans to basically double that number soon via new deliveries and retrofits. But just having static screens with On Demand content was never our end game. The real customer benefit happens when those screens are dynamic and offer real-time, streaming content just like your phone. That’s where the combination of Starlink’s reliable and fast connectivity and DIRECTV inflight live TV is a game-changer.”
This initiative uses the ‘Viasat Live TV’ and ‘Thales 360’ web-enabled applications to tap into live TV content and present it to customers’ seatback screens, streamed to the aircraft using Starlink connectivity.
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