‘That’s infotainment’: mixing TV with essential information

Entertainment services on ships have become far more integrated with information for passengers and crew. They are operator friendly, having greater interaction and mobile access. The benefits are best felt in the cruise shipping industry where infotainment can lead to improved marketing of services to passengers.

Recent technical advances have included digital signage, interactive in-cabin TV, podcasts, automatic passenger profiling and voyage tracking. As more satellite communications capacity opens up, onboard entertainment could include greater access to Internet services, such as video streaming and online gaming, via a ship’s VSAT.

Lufthansa Systems has developed a new version of its mobile infotainment solution, which follows a ‘single content/multichannel’ approach. The service encompasses interactive television in passenger and crew cabins. It also includes information content that can be accessed from tablet computers, such as iPads and mobile smartphones, says Mi-Kyung Lee, Lufthansa Systems’ marketing spokesperson.

“This means the service can become a ‘central content’ provision on board a cruise ship with the opportunity to display this content on various devices. Besides the interactive in-cabin television (iTV), it can integrate with iPads or other mobile devices, and screens in public areas.” Lufthansa Systems plans to unveil newly-designed digital signage technology at Seatrade Miami in March.

The accessibility of information in public areas means much more comfort for onboard guests, and it enables the crew to control the circulation of people on board. “The infotainment system provides the opportunity to plug in different kinds of other applications, notably a podcast management system or customer relationship management system which raises the solution from a mere entertainment solution to a real business supporting solution,” Lufthansa Systems adds.

Cruise ship operators can adapt a loyalty programme into a more interactive and data analytical system by employing an infotainment solution. This would enable cruise lines to proactively market their services to passengers. In 2011, Lufthansa Systems entered the river cruise market by modifying its solution to meet the specific requirements of these vessels for TV via satellite, even while passing under bridges.

Euronav Navigation’s PI3000 onboard passenger information displays have a function to highlight the geographic location of cruise ships and ferries for passengers. It runs on Windows-based PCs that interface with a ship’s existing information system. The company recently introduced the PI3000t unit as a touch-screen version, says Chris Pontet, Euronav’s international products manager.

“These systems are slide show media presentation providers that show passengers where they are on a ship and how to get where they want to go, such as how to get to the bar. They take the GPS feed off the ship’s instruments, which gives the vessel’s location on nautical and land relief charts. Now this information can be viewed on Windows-based tablet computers, but not yet on smartphones,” he explains.

PI3000 and the touch-screen version show a vessel’s position and speed, its course and estimated time of arrival. It can display web pages, PowerPoint presentations, audio files, images, video and live camera feeds. Cruise ship operators can use PI3000 to display slide shows, passenger voyage programmes, safety messages, product advertisements and promotions. Existing users include Royal Caribbean, Cunard, Color Line, Saga and Hurtigruten. In 2011, Euronav sold PI3000 onboard displays to American West Steamboat and an unnamed German cruise ship operator, Mr Pontet adds.

Allin Interactive has tested its DigiMobile technology that allows crew and passengers to extend the reach of the iTV services to mobile devices. It is likely to reveal the first installations on cruise ships during Seatrade Miami. The service was developed for mobile devices of four different operating systems, says John Troutwine, Allin’s marketing manager.

“DigiMobile extends interactive services to guest smartphones and tablets, as well as tablets distributed, assigned or rented to guest rooms by the cruise line. It has been simultaneously developed on four platforms (iPhone, iPad, Android phone, and Windows phone) in order to provide the cruise passenger with the best possible experience in the ‘native’ format of their own personal device,” he explains.

Along with the mobile application is the management software, which links DigiMobile to Allin’s DigiHD TV service. “DigiManager is the browser-based content management and reporting application for both DigiHD iTV and DigiMobile smartphone/tablet systems. The key benefit is a single back-office application to drive both interactive platforms,” Mr Troutwine explains. “Although DigiMobile can be deployed on vessels without Allin iTV, the system does offer a secure registration process by which guest phones or tablets are identified with a particular cabin. This instantly creates the content and transactional connection for promotional messaging, reservations and purchases from guest devices.”

A number of DigiMobile applications are currently available, including shore excursion previews and purchasing, text messaging, and daily activity schedules. There are general information modules, plus modules with dining menu information and folio reviews. Allin will be rolling out additional features during the second quarter of 2012, including a restaurant reservations service, voice over IP and video on demand (VOD), Mr Troutwine adds.

“With the restaurant reservations service, the goal is to provide guests with real-time self-serve access to the system, in order to alleviate lines at the reservations desks. We continue to see increases in demand for self-serve reservations access, such as show ticketing, shore excursions and dining, as cruise lines attempt to address rising guest expectations regarding the ability to access booking systems no matter where they are on the ship. This actually benefits all guests as standard transactions conducted via iTV, digital signage or mobile devices reduce overall queues at service desks, allowing onboard staff to concentrate on those guests who prefer to speak with a live person,” Mr Troutwine explains.

On the iTV side, Allin has secured contracts to deploy DigiHD iTV on several newbuildings in 2012, including Carnival Breeze, Costa Fascinosa, and MSC Divina, and it will be installed on MSC Preziosa in 2013. Allin is also deploying the first DigiHD-RF system, which delivers HD TV over coaxial cabling, during a refit of Costa neoRomantica.

Baze Technology has developed the BazePort Content Service (BCS) for onboard entertainment when ships operate in areas with no TV coverage. By using the vessel’s own TV subscription the BCS service lets users remotely record their favourite TV shows at home. The BCS will then make that recording available on the ship, says Thorstein Rinker, Baze’s vice president for business development.

“It is great to be able to watch local news or entertainment from home, while being stationed on the other side of the world. That is true crew welfare. In theory this is quite simple, but in practice it is not. We cannot stream content and we cannot just send a file. This is due to the extreme low bandwidth available over VSAT and content copyrights,” he adds.

Baze’s solution moves data over the Internet allowing frequent interruptions, very high latency and lowest bandwidth priority, without repeating data already sent. The technology allows the use of BazePort on vessels with VSAT bandwidth as low as 64 Kbps.

The BCS service Remote-TV was installed on Østensjø Rederi’s offshore accommodation vessel Edda Fides in 2011 so its Norwegian crew can watch their national TV on board, says Sveinung Zahl, the ship’s operations manager. “With BCS we get TV content from Norway directly into our onboard entertainment system even though we are off Spain at the moment. It is easy and convenient, and provides us with news and entertainment that otherwise would not be available for us. This is something the crew appreciates,” he adds. MEC