40,000 passengers watch World Cup final on in-flight TV

[LONDON] Germany's 1-0 victory over Argentina in the football World Cup final on Sunday night was watched in real-time by 40,000 airline passengers, a record for a live in-flight television broadcast.

Football fans on almost 200 jets operated by nine carriers including Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Turkish Airlines and Emirates were able to view the tournament's climax, according to Panasonic Corp, the only global provider of live in-flight TV.

Panasonic Avionics has bet on sports coverage to lure airline passengers to live television in an age when people are increasingly watching delayed screenings via on-demand technology. Through the duration of the World Cup around 1.5 million people watched games in-flight on the company's systems. "Right now we are still in the 'convincing' mode for TV, and the World Cup has really helped to show people that this works," David Bruner, Panasonic's vice president for global communications, said at the Farnborough Air Show, adding that the tournament has helped push in-flight TV toward a tipping point where the service will become universal.