KVH launches digital content service for seafarers, fleets

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(MIDDLETOWN, R.I.) — KVH Industries Inc. has launched KVH Link, a new digital content service that addresses two pressing needs in commercial maritime: News and entertainment content to improve crew well-being and operations data to optimize vessel performance.

Building on KVH’s past experience providing content for crew wellbeing and its patented IP-MobileCast technology for content delivery, KVH Link provides timely and popular news, sports, movies, TV, music, karaoke, podcasts, documentaries, trending social videos, and more in a sleek new user interface designed with digital natives in mind.

“There is an increasing focus on seafarer wellbeing as the foundation of safe, efficient operations,” said Mark Woodhead, KVH’s executive vice president for mobile connectivity. “At the same time, crew welfare is going digital, with increased onboard demand for access to popular content. With our decades of experience in providing crew content — starting in the 1960s with reel-to-reel movie nights on the deck of a ship — to our history of mobile tech innovation, KVH is uniquely suited to deliver a digital content platform for today’s seafarer.”

KVH Link crew well-being content includes: NEWSlink — hundreds of daily news stories, clips, and shows in the most popular languages among seafarers; SPORTSlink — news and video sports highlights from teams around the world, sports talk shows, and documentaries; MOVIElink — early release movies and classics from Hollywood to Bollywood and independent studios; TVlink — full seasons of popular hit television series; and MUSIClink — more than 15 genres of music radio, podcasts, karaoke, and more. KVH Link content is licensed from copyright holders for crew viewing.

Accessible for group viewing on a vessel TV screen or on seafarers’ personal devices, KVH Link features intuitive online navigation to enable users to quickly find the audio, text, and video content they want. The service is available as a monthly content subscription package incurring no data delivery charge.

In developing the KVH Link service, KVH built on its experience with the IP-MobileCast content delivery service it introduced in 2014, which features patented technology for delivering cybersecure, encrypted multimedia content to vessels with mini-VSAT Broadband connectivity.
 
KVH also announced KVH linkHUB, a new service that provides entertainment content via secure, encrypted content drives to vessels that do not have KVH mini-VSAT Broadband connectivity, or to mixed fleets with a variety of satellite providers.
 
“Today, all vessels in a fleet need news and entertainment content even when several different satellite connectivity vendors are involved,” said Woodhead. “With KVH Link and linkHUB, we can deliver terrific content to every vessel in the fleet.”

KVH Link also encompasses operations data services delivered by IP-MobileCast to address commercial fleets’ need to optimize vessel performance. The KVH Link operations solutions include CHARTlink — fast, secure delivery of ECDIS-compliant chartsets; FORECASTlink —high-resolution, global-scale weather forecasts delivered four times per day; and YOURlink — delivery of customer-generated content to promote crew safety and corporate values.

KVH is a mobile tech innovator that provides connectivity solutions for commercial maritime, leisure marine, and land mobile applications on vessels and vehicles, including the TracPhone and TracVision product lines, the global mini-VSAT Broadband network, and AgilePlans Connectivity as a Service (CaaS).

For more information, visit www.kvh.com.

By Professional Mariner Staff