BoingBoingTV takes to the skies

BoingBoingTV, the new eclectic online TV show from the creators of the popular website, will be available to passengers on the recently launched Virgin America airlines starting next month.

Virgin America, which took off in August, will provide select episodes of the show as part of its in-flight entertainment, which also includes video games, wireless Internet access, seat-to-seat instant messaging and passenger chat rooms. The airline is still small, offering just a handful of discount flights on about nine planes with plans to expand rapidly. Virgin America’s marketing campaign, which features animated versions of celebrity bloggers, positions it as a hip, tech-savvy alternative to other low-cost airlines.

Tv.boingboing.net, hosted by BoingBoing.net’s coeditors Xeni Jardin and Mark Frauenfelder, debuted on Wednesday. The site’s three-to-five-minute reports are posted five days a week. BoingBoingTV’s vast array of cultural ephemera is cheeky, odd and sometimes newsy. Recent segments include online religious ceremonies for Hindus and a montage of the world’s most polluted places.

“It’s exciting stuff that’s really relevant,” said Virgin America’s director of entertainment and partnerships Charles Ogilvie. “In some cases, it will be breaking [news]. In other cases, it will pique people’s curiosity.”

-- Gina Piccalo