PBS, United Airlines pact

Pubcaster flyin' high with new deal

By JOHN DEMPSEY

The Public Broadcasting System has signed its second output deal with an airline, agreeing to supply United Airlines with a flow of programs starting with Ken Burns' biographical documentary "Frank Lloyd Wright."

The in-flight program service, called PBS Aloft, also has an agreement with U.S. Airways. In the contract with United, the PBS programs, which include "The Irish Tenors," will be available on most of United's international routes and many of its long-distance domestic flights.

PBS Aloft will group some of its programs within umbrella themes, such as Black History Month and Asian/Pacific Heritage Month.

These airline deals will generate only minuscule revenues for PBS, said a spokesman for the pubcaster. Their purpose, he says, is to expose upscale viewers to PBS programming.