MET On Demand Skips Popular Streaming Providers For Roku

Opera On Demand: A snapshot of the MET Roku channel

Rather than joining powerful on-demand Internet streaming media provider Netflix, which has 26 million subscribers worldwide and is available to viewers in North America, Australia, New Zealand, South America, and parts of Europe (Denmark, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland and United Kingdom), the Metropolitan Opera has decided to create their own subscription service channel on Roku. Typically Netflix partners with content providers to license streaming rights for movies or television shows. Perhaps the blockbuster company had no interest in negotiating with the MET for their content? Or maybe the opera company thought their revenue stream could potentially be higher going their own route? It's not clear what the motivation might be in choosing to go with Roku. Users must first purchase a Roku plaer. Three options of players are available: Roku 1 (Basic Player) - $49.99; Roku 2 (Lightning Fast Performance) - $69.99; and Roku 3 (Fully Loaded) - $99.99. The second step will be to pay the $14.99/month subscriber fee for the MET Opera on Demand channel. Roku recommends a minimum download speed of 3.0 Mbps for HD content from your cable service to get optimum quality when viewing streams. The Roku Streaming Player does give full access to free channels such as AthiestTV, Crackle, Jewelry Television, and YouTube. Other premium channels like Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Vudu must be paid for separately. "Met Opera on Demand delivers instant streaming of more than 550 full-length Metropolitan Opera performances on
your Roku. Add the Met Opera on Demand channel to your Roku for free. Explore the channel and the catalog, and enjoy a sampling of free preview content. Subscribers can sign in anytime for complete and unlimited access to everything available. Sign up now for a free 7-day trial!

The Metropolitan Opera's current streaming fee system for getting opera through their website.

Highlights of this unparalleled collection include: More than 80 presentations from the Met’s award-winning 'Live in HD' series of global cinema transmissions, featuring opera superstars Roberto Alagna, Natalie Dessay, Joyce DiDonato, Plácido Domingo, Renée Fleming, Juan Diego Flórez, Elīna Garanča, Jonas Kaufmann, Anna Netrebko, Deborah Voigt, and many more; Classic Met telecasts dating from 1977, including 'Aida' starring Leontyne Price, 'La Bohème' starring Luciano Pavarotti and Renata Scotto, Jon Vickers as Otello, and more; 350+ radio broadcast performances dating back to 1935, representing nearly all of the most popular operas ever composed and many of the greatest singers in Met history including Björling, Callas, Corelli, Horne, Nilsson, Sutherland, Tebaldi, Te Kanawa, and Tucker. All Met Opera on Demand videos include English subtitles, and many recent HD performances also offer subtitles in French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and/or Swedish. New operas are added every month. Subscribers enjoy unlimited access on Roku and all other supported devices/platforms." [Source, Source, Source, Source]