News
All Aboard for Video-on-Demand as Deutsche Bahn Joins the Action
(24 Jun 2016, BWCS Staff)In a further major development in the on-train entertainment market, German video-on-demand supplier Maxdome has signed a content supply deal with Deutsche Bahn. Under the terms of the contract, passengers on the train company’s high-speed Inter-City Express (ICE) fleet will get access to some of Maxdome’s extensive catalogue of 50,000 film titles. In total, this will provide the content company with a potential audience of around 80 million passengers a year.
The new in-train entertainment service will be delivered from the ICE multimedia portal and stored on the train to avoid costly backhaul issues and potential data traffic blocks. For a monthly fee of €7.99, subscribers will be able to select any of 1,000 films offered by Maxdome. The company, which is owned by German broadcaster ProSiebenSaat 1, hopes to lure travellers onto the subscription package by offering up to 50 titles for free and a trial subscription of one month.
Back-of the-seat video screens already feature in many of the First Class carriages on the ICE fleet, however, Deutsche Bahn is keen to cut out the cost of installing screens in other parts of the trains. According to estimates in the German press today, equipping a plane with the necessary wiring, screens and control systems for seat-back displays can cost around US$15.8 million per plane, or US$15,000 per seat. While the cost of providing such services to train seats may well be significantly less, using the in-carriage WiFi to supply content from the on-baord server to passenger’s own devices will be cheaper by an order of magnitude.
In the UK, Virgin Trains recently signed a deal with Nomad Digital and on-board infotainment supplier GoMedia to supply a free app showing 200 hours of content, as well as games and magazines. The app is also delivered via WiFi from a content server hosted on the trains.
Marvin Lange, the MD of Maxdome commented on the ICE launch that customers “Can enjoy movies and series without having to download a title first, without mobile data volume being used up and without interruptions in tunnels – it can’t get more comfortable.” He claimed.
Deutsche Bahn was one of many train operators to speak at the recent WiFi on Trains Conference hosted by BWCS in London. There were several new announcements made during the Conference, all of which can be found at www.Traincomms2016.com . For more information about next year’s Conference, including speaking and sponsoring opportunities, please contact Ross.Parsons@BWCS.com .Back