Bahrain's national carrier Gulf Air said it has introduced nine new international television channels including MBC, Star Plus, Fox and Disney on ‘SkyHub’, its world-first inflight entertainment suite.

Starting from July 1, the channels: HBO, Warner, FOX, E!, CBS, Disney, National Geographic, MBC, and Star Plus will provide passengers with 220 -hours of continuous viewing, enough for 33 consecutive trips from Bahrain to London, through a ‘home viewing in the sky’ experience, the Gulf Air said in a statement.

Gulf Air is the first ever airline to offer program selection through channel, rather than genre, it added.
 
Gulf Air chief executive officer Samer Majali said, 'In the past 10 years in-flight-entertainment has dramatically improved and is now a decisive factor for choosing an airline; borne out by 20 per cent of passengers in a recent Gulf Air survey.'

'In today’s competitive environment staying ahead of the technology curve is crucial. Last year we launched ‘SkyHub’ an entertainment suite offering passengers, for the first time in the world, full broadband connectivity to access the internet, mobile phone services and a global, live television service.”

“This development will further enhance our on-board entertainment offering. Through the launch of these nine international network channels passengers, for the first time ever, can watch television the same way in the air as on the ground,” he added.

'Now airing across Gulf Air’s fleet at 30,000ft are an eclectic range of popular shows including; Keeping up with the Kardashians, Gossip Girl, E! True Hollywood Story, Bab Al Harra, Saath Nibhaana, Saathiya and for our younger passengers an extensive selection of shows on the Disney channel including Mickey Mouse Club House and Hannah Montana.'

Selected to meet the viewing preferences of as many passengers as possible, the channels cover all the best English TV content HBO, CBS, Warner, Fox, Disney and National Geographic, said the airline.

As well as the most popular regional TV channels MBC Arabic and Star Plus Hindi content. Content on the channels is refreshed every four month, it added.

In addition to pre-recorded programmes, the airline has already been offering live telecast of  F1 races from around the world on Sport 24, football matches  from IMG Media’s Barclays Premier League channel and  award winning news channels such as BBC World News, BBC Arabic and Euronews.  An extensive range of movies in over seven international languages are also available.-TradeArabia News Service