Advanced Television

SKY PerfecTV secures GOGO capacity

May 13, 2016

By Chris Forrester

This past week seems to have been dominated by news from the ‘In Flight Entertainment’ (IFE) industry. Japan’s leading pay-TV operator SKY PerfecTV is now selling (“in a partnership agreement”) satellite capacity on its JCSAT-5A craft to Gogo, which provides broadband and IFE services ‘direct to seat’ on aircraft.

One of Gogo’s main clients is Japan Airlines (JAL) and this new deal covers Japan and the Asia region generally.

Passengers on suitably-equipped aircraft can immediately tap into a ‘free’ 15 minutes-worth of WiFi on each domestic flight they make on JAL.

“Gogo has built its networks to be open, which means we can leverage numerous satellites in the Ku-band around the world,” said Anand Chari, Gogo’s chief technology officer.  “SKY Perfect JSAT is the largest satellite operator in Asia and by leveraging their high capacity JCSAT–5A satellite, we are able to deliver more bandwidth at lower costs to customers like JAL and their passengers.”

“We are sincerely honored to be a partner with Gogo,” stated Shinji Takada, President/CEO, SKY Perfect JSAT. “This year, we are launching several satellites including JCSAT-14 and JCSAT-15 which have very unique Ku-band coverage over Pacific region and Indian ocean region, Further, we have announced to launch Horizons 3e, a newly Ku-band HTS, in 2018. We will continue to satisfy growing demand in the mobility market with our satellites”

Gogo and SKY Perfect JSAT has also partnered to provide satellite communications services over the Pacific region with the new JCSAT-14 satellite which was successfully launched on May 6th.

Categories: Articles, DTH/Satellite