In January American Airlines made a move to reduce tensions in its lounges instructing staff to avoid national news channels on the televisions unless specifically requested.
Now reportedly Delta SkyClubs are making a similar move.
Foxnews and CNN banned from Skyclub
I was told by the agent in the ORD Skyclub on Saturday that they received a directive that neither of these channels can no longer be shown on the lounge TV’s. Instead they were showing some type of car racing!
New York JFK Terminal 2 SkyClub Entrance
Apparently news channels are simply too divisive. Gone are the days when we all watched CNN’s Airport Network. If we can’t watch the news in an airline club in peace — when we fight over the news instead of sports — what does that say about our society?
Ironically of course Delta is the most political airline in the U.S. — lobbying aggressively to limit foreign competition, to prevent a new airport opening up competition in Atlanta, inserting themselves into debates about guns, gifting elite status to politicians, you name it.
Yeah of course libs were ok with only cnn on, but for normal, emotionally stable people that don’t want to listen to Don lemon nonsensical rants and constant TDS- based bashing, it’s not as enjoyable. I was just in LAS centurion, where half the TV’s were on CNN, and the other half we’re on Fox news. Seems like a good solution to me, but for libbies I’m sure that’s still a trigger.
Which came first: the bifurcated audience or the bifurcated slant and topic selection? Answer: it doesn’t matter. I doubt that a middle of the road presentation would succeed or would even be recognized as such.
Perfect. Let’s just all relax and watch Rachel Maddow on MSNBC 🙂
The solution would be to set lounge televisions to the light-hearted, entertaining, and non-confrontational programming of such stations as The Food Network or Animal Planet.
“libs” lol…smh
The first commenter and comment don’t bode well for where this discussion is likely to go.
I always cringe when I walk into a bank playing CNN with its biased coverage. Fox News is better but it is still sensationalist and the 24 hour news paradigm makes every story or non story seem like some massive issue. Delta is wrong on so much but yes I am glad there won’t be any news media played in lounges. Everyone pretty much has cellphones or iPads with earphones so if they want to watch or listen to the news the can.
MSNBC it is, then.
They should just put on HGTV and Food Network.
No to MSNBCLSD…. (Or other TDS outlets)
Would love to see airports cut the CNN contract to all the airports. It’s just a little revenue loss.
Maybe videos of nature or travel shows, a little weather.
My Lexus dealer now shows food network and home&garden channels in the service area.
the solution would be for so-called news channels to present the news, not political commentary. All three cable news networks do this to varying degrees almost 24-7. And airline clubs are filled with hyper politically partisan people who love the sound of their own voices. Couple that with free alcohol and it’s a recipe for stupid arguments because of idiot cable news talking heads.
Delta is also becoming less politically blatant in their pre-flight videos. These changes are welcome.
BBC World?
Seems like all this came about when “news” channels stopped showing news and just show politics. Most of my Silvercar rentals have the XM tuned to “Chill” which really helps me relax 🙂
Good riddance
I would like to see Bloomberg News. Except for one hour of paid advertising late at night, it is 23 hours of solid new. It leans left, but is not full of all the hyperbole of CNN, Fox, and MSNBC, because it is business oriented.
I would rather watch airplane crashes on loop, than a news channel in a lounge.
@Taha Bring it on BBC World is even further to the left.
smart move. If you really need CNN, you can use your smartphone (and headphones).
I applaud DL
Do you really need to be entertained or occupied (or enraged) by a public TV while you’ve in an airport lounge? How about every lounge simply turn the things off. No noise, no visual overload, no sensational garbage of any type.
There’s really nothing else Delta, or any business, can do in this hyper-partisan age. The only time I ever see CNN is at airports, and from what I can tell, they are now a 24-hour outlet for individuals suffering from TDS. There’s no way it’s suitable for a mainstream audience. The other news networks are obviously partisan, too (albeit less ridiculously so). It’s a shame there’s no market for neutral news reporting these days. Almost nobody would watch, because it’s the partisan who are interested.
Meh – the Delta lounges should just settle on the food network and serve Buffalo wings for snacks. The Democrats can start throwing left wings and the republicans can start throwing right wings. No more shouting and physical assaults over politics – just an old fashioned food fight!
We have a break room at work. One channel is food network, other is ESPN. Works for us.
+1 to Jon. I hate blaring TVs in lounges almost as much as the d-bags who are yelling into their cellphones and the loud talkers oblivious to those around them. Lounges should be a peaceful place to relax. If the TV must be on then it should be tuned to sports like a bar.
CNN is hardly news anymore. Flyers haven’t changed; CNN has. Fox News has always been Fox News, which is to say, hardly ever shown in airports.
Mute volume, turn on Closed captioning and tune each TV to a unique selection of a variety of channels. Customers can pick their propaganda, I mean entertainment. Consider for one moment int’l customers, so throw in a tv for BBC and another for Al Gore TV which is now AlJazeera. Hopefully there are enough tv’s to do this, or provide 30 minutes to one hour of content at a time. Stream the audio on a special delta lounge app readily available via QR code for those that are hip. For the rest of us, we know how to read the CC if we want to.
I may have this all wrong. Maybe delta wants customers to limit their visit. If that were true, wouldn’t they just leave it on CSPAN?
Given that the major US news networks have jumped onto the Fox “News” bandwagon and become more like Dr. Phil meets Phil Donahoue meets brash Trump and are too focused on entertaining rather than informing or even having respectful, calm debate, can’t say that it really bothers me to see Fox News and even CNN drop off the screens. But I would probably prefer that the TV screens had their volume turned off regardless of what they show — or, better yet, show nothing but the departure flight boards for the airport.
good call
Avoid weather channel too. People will freak out about their flight getting cancelled (although, that is not likely to happen at Delta). Change over to one of the business channels (Bloomberg, CNBC, Fox Business).
Good call. BOTH CNN and Fox News are nothing but “fake news”. Put the Food Network, National Geographic, or even Animal Planet on and let people get away for awhile from the 24-hour-a-day political propaganda disguised as news while in the lounge.
Both are terrible for different reasons: Fox News is the GOP’s propaganda network and anyone who doesn’t use ‘TDS’ unironically knows it. CNN is nothing but an endless parade of bad-faith panel discussions where everyone yells over each other while informing no one.
Lounge TVs should show CSPAN exclusively to help travelers catch a nap between flights.
That’s a switch. . .DL is following AA’s lead. . .A Change in the Air?
Whoever said to put something like the Travel Channel or Weather Channel on there has the right idea.
The number one thing is that they need to be muted with closed captioning enabled, and the unmute button removed from the TV. No one wants to listen to that thing droning on, especially when the commercials come on at double the volume.
AlJazeera US hasn’t existed for 3 years, also what is TDS and why are only people who don’t use real names talking about it?
I wish CNN were more neutral like they used to be. Now, I watch CBSN, a CBS News channel, because they are less slanted than CNN.
Its good the the KKK’s favorite news channel is not being shown. The racists who like Fox can watch Birth of a Nation on their iPhones or channel David Duke
Most Americans are woefully uninformed. They are too busy watching TMZ on their iPad to be bothered with the news.
Or hey, maybe Delta could just turn their lounges in opium dens where fact -aversive folks can lay down and have their bowls refilled as needed and drift off into their favorite pipe dream version of reality, rather than be bothered with the challenge of absorbing actual news.
Oh. No, wait… sorry. FOX is already providing that service. Carry on.
Does CNN Headline News channel still exist? That one was decent because it was actually news and not commentary.
BBC news is probably best for the airports since they cover the whole world, and not 3 cities like CNN and Fox (DC, NYC, and LA)
I am guessing Allen the Stooge (the race hustlers mark) loves Fake News because of confirmation bias. Some people love being hustled. Hurt me, Hurt me, it feels so good.
BTW Stooge boy, did you get your money back from Nigerian Prince that needed some documents to release his fortune. LOL. I will sell you insurance against scams like that. Send a Western Union check to my man in Panama. Just joking, but I am sure you are dumb enough to fall for it.
CNBC seems appropriate during the day
HGTV / Food Network at night
Who remembers when Newsmax was the default channel on United’s directv enabled planes
WR2 i agree with you!! GUWonder The US news networks are nothing like FOX!! why can’t both be on in the lounges??People esp need to be exposed to less of AOC,Omar and Nancy and Chuck the heros of CNN and Rachael Maddox and MSNBC!
CNBC would be a fair choice but even they have lost a lot of appeal since Mark Haines died and Maria Bartiromo left. Never been as good.
I like France24. It’s calm, reports the news, no endless talking heads. But that said, I don’t like TVs in the lounge.
I can confirm this just happened at the SLC Delta Club this evening 5/10/19. Agent came out and changed to CNBC, manager confirmed. No CNN or Fox News they said. Two older gentlemen came unglued and one was almost thrown out for using language in front of families (“this is bull$#%t” he said)