Kingfisher Airlines Ltd and Dish TV have joined hands to provide live in-flight entertainment on Kingfisher aircraft, the companies announced at a press conference here on Friday.

Kingfisher Airlines is the first carrier in the country to offer live in-flight entertainment and only the second airline worldwide. JetBlue Airways in the United States is the first airline to offer the facility.

Dish TV will provide Kingfisher passengers with a choice of 16 channels. According to Subhash Chandra, Chairman, Essel Group, the channels will be a mix of Zee Network and third party offerings. The channel menu has not been decided upon yet, but Kingfisher Chairman and CEO Vijay Mallya announced that passengers would be able to view the Cricket World Cup 2007 live on Kingfisher Airlines.

"The World Cup played an important part in Kingfisher Airline's time scale," Mallya said. "Everything was based on the fact that we must have the World Cup."

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