Coming to a theater near you

A lot of chatter on the 'net about the Met's announcement of its new media partnerships. What it boils down to is this:

1. Six matinees (The Magic Flute, Puritani, The First Emperor, Eugene Onegin, Barber of Seville, and Il trittico) will be recorded in hi-def and shown in movie theaters
2. After a 30 day window has elapsed they will be available to PBS
3. Opera performances will be streamed on the Met website
4. Historic broadcasts will be available on Real Rhapsody
5. Other digital delivery methods (podcasts, ringtones) are being explored

While I think this is worth a try, I have some reservations.

1. This is not the first time the Met has tried releasing performances in theaters. In the 50s two performances were shown in theaters, via closed-circuit and the experiment was not deemed a success. And this is at a time when going to the movies was an event. No, I think On-Demand or Pay-Per-View (priced reasonably) is the way to go. I also think the draw is lessened by stating up front that they'll be available in 30 days on PBS. We have become a passive society and the idea of waiting 30 days (ok, probably longer and not in every market) for something in you home and for free will be appealing to some. Look at the incredible trajectory of the home video market and home theater over the past 20 years. People want entertainment in the convenience of their own homes.
2. The details of the streaming of performances on their website are sketchy. Is this video or audio only? Since this presumably will be for free, I see no commercial appeal, but do appreciate the gesture even if the quality is not likely to make for comfortable long-term viewing/listening
3. The thing I'm most excited about is the availability of historic performances on Rhapsody. I actually subscribe to Rhapsody and the appeal is greatly increased with this availability. I think this is a great medium for this and I hope that they will also be available for download. Because the audience is probably not commercially viable for wholesale CD release, I think via download is the perfect answer.

I believe that Mr. Gelb deserves the benefit of the doubt and I applaud him for trying to shake things up a bit. On the other hand I am still concerned by his populist and cross-over background and view an attempt to dumb-down or cheapen the performances with great caution and concern.

Still I guess only time will tell.