The phrase, “Will it play in Peoria?” has long been used to rank the appeal of something to mainstream America. The phrase initially came into fashion during the vaudeville era, when it was believed that if a new show was successful in Peoria, Ill., it would work anywhere in America.
If you look at the video entertainment that airlines (including Delta) have offered in the past, I’ll bet many of the programming decisions were based on that age-old question. Whatever was least likely to offend the greatest number of people ended up onboard. And that usually meant a pretty blah entertainment offering.
Over the past year we’ve been progressively programming movies that are more hip and that were released theatrically with a PG-13 or R rating. Of course, we’re still editing our overhead offering to content standards on par with network TV stations. And in many cases, films are edited to even stricter airline standards.
We provide a disclaimer with specific content warnings prior to every film aired onboard and provide ratings and content overviews in Sky magazine. Another thing to remember is that many films are released with an R rating due to profanity or adult dialogue. But with the profanity edited out, the film likely wouldn’t be rated R in a theater.
For instance, we recently aired “Georgia Rule.” This film was rated R theatrically, but we removed all profanity. And while the film included mature dialogue, movie audio can only be heard through headphones. With that in mind, we rely on parents to decide if it’s appropriate for their child to listen to the audio track.
This shift in the type of entertainment we offer has not gone unnoticed. As you might expect, this move toward offering popular Hollywood movies and some great independent films has resulted in a lot of customer feedback…some quite passionate. However, the overwhelming response from our flyers has been very positive.
I’d like to hear your thoughts. Do you like the direction we’re taking?
Chris Babb
Manager - Global Product Development
In-Flight Entertainment
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