NEW YORK, July 3, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- JetBlue Airways Corporation (Nasdaq:JBLU) today announces that for the fifth year in a row, the New York-based airline and VERSUS, the U.S. television home of the Tour de France, have partnered so that cycling fans jetting during the month of July won't miss a minute of the 2008 Tour de France. Beginning Saturday, July 5, at 8:30 a.m. ET, VERSUS' coverage of the grueling, 23-day contest will be available on channel 37 of the low-cost carrier's personal seatback televisions, in addition to its signature lineup of 36 channels of live DIRECTV(r) programming, which includes FOX, CBS and NBC as well as ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN News, ESPN U and Big 10.
"JetBlue is dedicated to bringing live, in-flight coverage of top-notch sporting events to every seatback TV in our fleet, including VERSUS' exclusive programming of the Tour de France, to enhance the core JetBlue Experience for our customers," said Brett Muney, General Manager of Product Development for JetBlue Airways. "We are excited to provide a front row seat to the race's 23-day action to our cycling jetters for the fifth year in a row."
Once customers arrive at their destination, they can continue to follow the Tour as VERSUS provides an average of 14 hours of Tour action per day in July; including live coverage in the morning, replays during the day, and an expanded prime time show. VERSUS' stellar coverage will be hosted by the incomparable team of Phil Liggett, Paul Sherwen, Bob Roll and Craig Hummer. In addition to VERSUS' un-matched and all-encompassing television coverage, VERSUS.com is the official Tour website in the U.S. for the eighth year in a row and the premier online destination for 24-hour access to anything and everything Tour related.
"The Tour de France is one of the most intense competitions on earth and VERSUS is proud to team up with JetBlue for the fifth straight year to ensure their customers don't miss a minute of the heart-pumping action as they travel across this great nation in July," said Marc Fein, Executive Vice President of Programming Production and Business Operations for VERSUS.
In addition to its home town of New York City, JetBlue jets to some of the biggest cycling cities in the country, including: Austin, Texas; Chicago, Ill.; Denver, Colo.; Portland, Ore.; Richmond, Va.; Rochester, N.Y.; San Diego, Calif.; San Francisco, Calif.; and Seattle, Wash..
VERSUS celebrates real competition across all platforms (VERSUS.com, VERSUS on Demand and VERSUS HD). Now in more than 73 million homes, the network is the national cable home of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the Stanley Cup Playoffs as well as best-in-class events such as The Tour de France, Davis Cup Tennis, the Professional Bull Riders (PBR), World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) and Professional Boxing. The network also offers collegiate sports featuring nationally-ranked teams from top conferences such as the Pac-10, Big 12 and Mountain West. VERSUS features the best field sports programming on television and is a destination for sports fans, athletes and sportsmen to find exclusive, competitive events that audiences can't find elsewhere. VERSUS, a wholly owned company of Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq:CMCSA) (Nasdaq:CMCSK), is distributed via cable systems and satellite operators throughout the United States.
New York-based JetBlue Airways has created a new airline category based on value, service and style. Known for its award-winning service and free TV as much as its low fares, JetBlue is now pleased to offer customers Lots of Legroom and super-spacious Even More Legroom seats. JetBlue introduced complimentary in-flight e-mail and instant messaging services on aircraft "BetaBlue," a first among U.S. domestic airlines. JetBlue is also America's first and only airline to offer its own Customer Bill of Rights, with meaningful and specific compensation for customers inconvenienced by service disruptions within JetBlue's control. Visit www.jetblue.com/promise for details. JetBlue serves 53 cities with 600 daily flights. With JetBlue, all seats are assigned, all travel is ticketless, all fares are one-way, and an overnight stay is never required. For information or reservations call 1-800-JETBLUE (1-800-538-2583) or visit www.jetblue.com.
DIRECTV(r) service is not available on flights outside the continental United States.
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This press release contains statements of a forward-looking nature which represent our management's beliefs and assumptions concerning future events. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions, and are based on information currently available to us. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements due to many factors, including, without limitation, our extremely competitive industry; increases in fuel prices, maintenance costs and interest rates; our ability to implement our growth strategy, including the ability to operate reliably the EMBRAER 190 aircraft and our new terminal at JFK; our significant fixed obligations; our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel and maintain our culture as we grow; our reliance on high daily aircraft utilization; our dependence on the New York metropolitan market and the effect of increased congestion in this market; our reliance on automated systems and technology; our being subject to potential unionization; our reliance on a limited number of suppliers; changes in or additional government regulation; changes in our industry due to other airlines' financial condition; and external geopolitical events and conditions. Further information concerning these and other factors is contained in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including but not limited to, the Company's 2007 Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this release.