Yesterday, from RDU-ATL I was in a Song 757. Of the 18 channels that they had, only three (NBC, The Weather Channel, and ESPN2) actually worked and showed the proper programming. The other 15 were either blacked out or were showing some identical advertisement for Dish Network (I believe it was 6 blacked out, 9 Dish ads). So, 3/18 worked, or 1/6 of the TV channels.

Is this standard?

DD

On my 4 transcon flights this summer on the 757 TV flights, only a few of the channels seem to work. I could always get NBC, one or two of the ESPN channels, and usually one or two more. It's quite disappointing.

Not only are there "dead" channels, but I noticed on a flight last week that there were fewer channel choices. TCM and Fox News, most notably, were no longer on the list of available channels.

Last month I flew SLC-DCA roundtrip on a 752. On the flight to DCA, none of the channels worked, despite the system being rebooted several times. On the flight back to SLC, about 2/3 of the channels worked, and the other channels showed a continuous program on how Dish(?) Network works for newbies.

Here was the response I got from contacting via email...no real info, as expected.

---

Dear DukieDrew,

Thank you for your e-mail to Delta Air Lines.

The In-Flight Entertainment systems contribute to the enjoyment of a
flight, and we share your disappointment that there was a problem. We
want flying on Delta to be pleasant and regret any role we played which
caused your travel experience to be otherwise.

Again, thank you for writing. Please accept our apology for the
circumstances you described. Your comments are appreciated since this is
one of the best ways we have of knowing which areas need additional
attention. We hope you will continue to make Delta your airline of
choice.

Sincerely,

Mark
Manager
Customer Care

The e-mail response from DL is very lame. How boiler plate can you get! Why bother sending them a comment. Only makes you more mad. I'm sure they know that their Dish TV isn't delivering the goods. The question is what are they doing to improve it.

I asked that question in an e-mail I sent to Delta following the flight that had no channels available at all. So far, I have not received a response, other than an initial pro-forma response saying that my e-mail had been received and was being forwarded to the appropriate department.

All...I appreciate the feedback and understand your frustration with the live TV product. No one is more frustrated than I am and I just want you all to know that we are working around the clock to fix this problem. First here's some background...there are a few issues.

First, Echostar/Dish Network uses spot beams for coverage over the Western US. That means that you'll usually see some signal degradation once you're west of the Rockies.

Second, the receivers we currently have installed are not as robust as we'd like them to be and their reliability has not met our expectations.

Third, on Aug. 1, we changed the channel lineup and reduced the number of channels from 24 to 18. Echostar lost airline rights to several channels -- including Fox News -- which forced DL to update the channel lineup. We did add FX, Sci-Fi and ABC Family.

The process of updating the channels is extremely time and resource intensive. There are multiple 'smart cards' spread across three receivers on each of the 48 aircraft.

Each one of those cards and receivers has to be touched by a technician and each card has to be updated 'over the air' via Echostar software. This is a time consuming process. Given that our 757 fleet is in the air an average of 18 hours a day, it has been extremely difficult to schedule ground time to update the hardware.

So...those are the issues...here's what we're doing to correct the problem.

This fall we are replacing all the antennas with units that are better suited to Echostar's spot beam coverage.

We are replacing the receivers with updated versions that will be much more reliable.

We are increasing staffing and touch time for each aircraft to improve reliability.

We are working closely with Echostar to ensure our programming lineup is consistent. However, it's important to note that channels may become unavailable due to ongoing negotiations between Echostar and its programming partners.

Hope that provides some background. I'm on the ATL-SNA-ATL flights every other week to attend meetings with Panasonic and I completely understand the frustration our customers have with the live TV product.

Thanks for being patient...we are working to make it better!

Thanks for the highly informative post!

I also noticed the lack of channels availble when I flew back to school last week. I've never had the weather channel work once. Nonetheless, the ptvs are a nice touch.