KVH has launched a new crew-focused news and entertainment offering for commercial vessels, to be delivered to ships using the company’s IP-MobileCast technology for content delivery.
The KVH Link service will offer content such as news, sports, movies, TV, music, karaoke, podcasts, documentaries and trending social media videos, the company said.
“There is an increasing focus on seafarer wellbeing as the foundation of safe, efficient operations,” said Mark Woodhead, KVH’s Executive Vice President for Mobile Connectivity.
“At the same time, crew welfare is going digital, with increased onboard demand for access to popular content. With our decades of experience in providing crew content—starting in the 1960s with reel-to-reel movie nights on the deck of a ship—to our history of mobile tech innovation, KVH is uniquely suited to deliver a digital content platform for today’s seafarer.”
Accessible for group viewing on a vessel TV screen or on seafarers’ personal devices, the service is available as a monthly content subscription package to the ship. No data delivery charges are incurred as the IP-MobileCast set-up uses bandwidth outside the vessel operator’s KVH communications package allowance.
For vessels that do not have KVH mini-VSAT Broadband connectivity the company is offering a new linkHUB service that provides the entertainment content via encrypted content drives to the ships.
