Global Eagle Entertainment

Global Eagle Entertainment, Inc.
Public
Traded as NASDAQ: ENT
Industry Technology, Aviation, Entertainment, Advertising, Communications, Analytics
Founded 2013
Headquarters Marina del Rey, CA, United States
Number of locations
 Irvine, CA
Lakeforest, CA
Lombard, IL
New York, NY
Reston, VA
Dallas, TX
Montreal, QC
Barranquilla, Colombia
London, UK
Manchester, UK
Sundsvall, Sweden
Madrid, Spain
Johannesburg, South Africa
Dubai, UAE
Mumbai, India
Singapore
Beijing, China
Auckland, NZ
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
 Dave Davis (CEO)
Wale Adepoju (CCO)
Mike Zemetra (CFO)
Aditya Chatterjee (CTO)
Ajay Malhotra (CIO)
Ed Shapiro (Chairman)
Products In-flight entertainment
In-flight connectivity
Entertainment distribution
Media processing
Electronic flight bags
Operational data solutions
Revenue IncreaseUS$ 426.0 million (FY 2015)
Number of employees
 1,000
Website www.geemedia.com
Footnotes / references
[1]

Introduction

Global Eagle Entertainment (GEE) is a worldwide provider of in-flight entertainment and connectivity solutions that improve the airline passenger experience. GEE provides a full-service platform of aircraft communications systems, operations solutions and media content to more than 200 airlines worldwide.[2] GEE’s product portfolio is organized into four business lines:

Product Lines

GEE’s Connectivity solutions provide communications hardware and services that provide high-speed satellite-based Internet to major airlines worldwide. GEE has been awarded the “Best In-flight Connectivity and Communications” award for 2013, 2014 and 2015 by APEX.[3] Specific product and service lines include:

GEE’s Content solutions power in-flight entertainment on the majority of the world’s commercial airline fleet. GEE delivers content in 47 languages across 150 countries, and has a 60% share of the IFE content market.[4] The company distributes Hollywood, Asian, Bollywood, European and Middle Eastern content to airline, maritime and other non-theatrical markets, and is the exclusive airline distributor of multiple movie products and content. GEE is the exclusive technical laboratory for aviation content for major studios and is MPAA-certified throughout its technical operations.

GEE’s full-service, end-to-end content, media and entertainment services include:

GEE’s Digital Media solutions include applications, games and customer portals installed on more than 200 aircraft worldwide. GEE offers advertising, branded content, interactive moving in-flight maps, destination and travel-related services, games, and video-on-demand programming. GEE also powers airline transactions with customers in-flight and provides full-service advertising services for airport, lounge, in-flight and mobile application environments.

Specific Digital Media solutions include:

GEE’s Operations Solutions include Connected Aircraft services that source real-time operational and cabin data from fleets, link aircraft systems with ground networks, and analyze operational data to improve customer service and profitability. GEE’s Operations Solutions products are designed to function with both IFC-enabled aircraft and with non-connected aircraft, depending on the airlines’ needs. GEE is also a major provider of Electronic Flight Bag power and mounting systems, with cockpit hardware and power systems installed on more than 3,500 commercial aircraft.[5]

Connectivity Products

GEE’s Connectivity products provides airlines with high-speed Internet communications services. More than 35 million passengers utilize GEE-provided Internet infrastructure each year. The GEE Airconnect Global connectivity system can utilize both Ku-band and Ka-band satellite transmissions depending on airline requirements and geographic coverage requirements.

GEE offers specialized network equipment, media applications and premium content services that enable airline passengers to access in-flight Internet, live television, on-demand content, texting services, shopping and travel-related information. GEE’s Connectivity system is installed on over 700 aircraft including Southwest Airlines and Norwegian Air Shuttle, two of the largest fleets of Internet-connected aircraft. GEE is a white-label provider of connectivity services: airlines determine branding and price point for Internet service on board. GEE provides aircraft technical and network support including 24/7 monitoring of the connectivity performance and bandwidth of satellite-based services from its Network Operations Center (NOC) outside Chicago, IL.

Airconnect Global major customers include Southwest Airlines, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Mango Airlines, Icelandair, Air China (trial), NOK Air, Air France (trial), flydubai, Hainan Airlines and Beijing Capital Airlines.

Content Business

GEE’s Content business selects, procures, manages, encodes and distributes wholly owned and licensed media content, video and music programming, applications, digital advertising solutions and games to more than 150 airlines worldwide, as well as to maritime and other away-from-home non-theatrical markets. GEE sources a broad range of theatrical and television programs from over 100 worldwide distributors including Warner Bros., NBC Universal, Twentieth Century Fox, CBS, Paramount, the BBC, Discovery, STX, Starz and The Walt Disney Company, as well as smaller international content providers. GEE also provides e-readers and games to the in-flight entertainment market.

GEE operates an aviation-focused licensing and media distribution business. GEE and its predecessors have been providing movies, television programming, games and audio programming for over 30 years. Technical capabilities include encoding, editing and meta-data services performed at GEE technical facilities in California, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Auckland and India. GEE also produces corporate videos, safety videos, animated video content, podcasts and radio shows. GEE offers media programming services to identify relevant and appropriate content and tailors movie selections based on airline specifications.

The GEE content business focuses on acquiring aviation-specific licenses for major Hollywood, independent and international film and television productions, and marketing such distribution rights to the airline, maritime and other non-theatrical markets. GEE processes, edits and technically adjusts the content, including addition of subtitles and custom programming, and makes the content available for IFE systems and all associated services.

GEE Airconnect Global Antenna

GEE’s Airconnect Global system utilizes an antenna platform capable of operations on either Ku-band and Ka-band. The Airconnect Global antenna system utilizes a unique three-axis precision pointing mechanism and steerable pointing system that optimizes coverage, including during flights near or at the equator, at high latitudes, and during banking maneuvers where alternative antenna designs lose reception.

In late 2015, GEE and Hughes Network Systems agreed to deploy Hughes' JUPITER™ System HT Aero Modem as part of the GEE Airconnect Global solution. Hughes' HT Aero Modem features the JUPITER System second-generation SoC (System on a chip) that supports over 200 Mbit/s of throughput, a 10x increase in throughput performance to an individual aircraft compared to current-generation technology. The modem is DO160 compliant and is compatible with GEE's current antenna system.

GEE has obtained Supplemental Type Certificates (STCs) from the FAA, EASA and similar international agencies for the installation of network communications equipment. GEE equipment is Boeing linefit on the new Boeing 737MAX and GEE holds STCs for the Boeing 737, 757, 777 and Airbus A320 aircraft types.

Digital Media

GEE Digital Media develops graphical user interfaces and gaming applications for a variety of IFE applications, including interactive electronic menus and magazines. GEE also offers a catalog of 150 game titles customized for the in-flight environment, with multi-year licenses from partners such as Disney, EA, Popcap, Rovio, Tetris, Namco Bandai, DK and Berlitz.

GEE’s Entice™ system is an in-cabin Wi-Fi solution that enables passenger IFE and connectivity solutions through passengers’ personal devices. Entice is an easy-to-install system that delivers content directly to all personal devices, including passenger laptops, tablets and smartphones utilizing Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology to offer secured viewing of Hollywood content with a customizable user interface. Entice hardware consists of a storage management unit (“SMU”) and wireless router and can be installed on a plane overnight. Airlines update content on Entice through a dedicated wireless network. Entice combines content, distribution and technology to provide the most complete offering of on-board IFE content tailored to geographical and passenger demographics. News content and sports programming can be refreshed daily.

GEE offers live television programming delivered over satellite networks on board aircraft for passenger viewing on multiple devices. GEE IPTV solutions transmit live television channels to passengers across the globe. The standard GEE television package includes up to 20 live channels, including a variety of programming options such as news channels, major broadcast networks, sports and specialty cable network channels. GEE also offers a large selection of video-on-demand content.

Operational Solutions

GEE’s solutions for airline operations include Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) and cloud-based operational data analytics systems. In August 2015, GEE acquired masFlight, an analytics company focused on global airlines, airports and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The Masflight platform combines near-real time global aircraft position data, flight information, airport operations, weather information and other airline, commercial and government data feeds. masFlight is delivered to subscribers through a cloud-based data warehouse, analytics applications, and interfaces that feed on-premises business intelligence platforms.

GEE’s EFB solutions were acquired in the August 2015 acquisition of Navaero Avionics AB. Navaero EFB systems include tablet- and PC-based electronic flight bags, mounts, power systems and aircraft interface devices. As of January 2016, Navaero equipment is installed on more than 3,500 aircraft worldwide.

Company History

GEE formed in January 2013 through the combination of three businesses:

Since 2013, GEE has completed the following acquisitions:

References

  1. ↑ "GEE 2015 Annual Report". Securities Exchange Commission, GEE.
  2. ↑ Global Eagle Investor Presentation Marina Del Rey, Q1 2016. Retrieved on 3 April 2016.
  3. ↑ "And the 2015 Passenger Choice Award Winners Are…| Airline Passenger Experience". APEX | Airline Passenger Experience. Retrieved 2016-04-03.
  4. ↑ "10-K". edgar.sec.gov. Retrieved 2016-04-03.
  5. ↑ "New GEE acquisitions to enable ‘connected aircraft vision’". Future Travel Experience. Retrieved 2016-04-03.

External links

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