New ROH Streaming Service

[Guest oncnp]

Not on the website yet but the Telegraph at least thinks it's launched

 

Antonio Pappano: ‘I happily embrace diversity – just don’t blame us for having been bad people’ (telegraph.co.uk)

 

"Covent Garden is today going some way to combating such concerns. They are launching Royal Opera House Stream, a new streaming service on a monthly subscription basis where you can access productions from the Royal Opera and Royal Ballet archive. Forty-five archive productions will be available from today; with new films of performances of Wayne MacGregor’s new ballet The Dante Project and Rigoletto also being unveiled this month."

Edited October 4, 2022 by oncnp

[Sebastian]

32 minutes ago, oncnp said:

Not on the website yet but the Telegraph at least thinks it's launched

 

Antonio Pappano: ‘I happily embrace diversity – just don’t blame us for having been bad people’ (telegraph.co.uk)

 

"Covent Garden is today going some way to combating such concerns. They are launching Royal Opera House Stream, a new streaming service on a monthly subscription basis where you can access productions from the Royal Opera and Royal Ballet archive. Forty-five archive productions will be available from today; with new films of performances of Wayne MacGregor’s new ballet The Dante Project and Rigoletto also being unveiled this month."

Very interesting. I wonder if “archive productions” means “previously available commercially” or whether they are planning also to share some of their unseen treasures.

[Guest oncnp]

Here it is. At first glance not much that isn't already available but perhaps that's not their intended audience

 

https://www.roh.org.uk/stream/

 

Everyone is welcome to try Royal Opera House Stream for free for 14 days. To access this free trial you will need to enter payment details but payment will not be taken from your account until after the free trial has finished.

 

There is also a passing reference to discount for members but the pricing is the same (£9.99/month, £99.99/year) whether I'm logged in or not

Edited October 4, 2022 by oncnp

[MJW]

Had a quick look - nothing that wasn’t already available so I won’t be paying the Friends price of £6.99.

 

I was hoping for the stream of the Ashton triple from this year - fingers crossed it appears soon.

[Guest oncnp]

8 minutes ago, MJW said:

Had a quick look - nothing that wasn’t already available so I won’t be paying the Friends price of £6.99.

 

I was hoping for the stream of the Ashton triple from this year - fingers crossed it appears soon.

 

Hmmmmm.....Still showing £9.99 for me - perhaps I'm less of a Friend

[FionaM]

I wonder how this will impact free offerings on YouTube of Insights and the like? 

[bridiem]

12 minutes ago, FionaE said:

I wonder how this will impact free offerings on YouTube of Insights and the like? 

 

Yes, that's what's worrying me.

[JohnS]

My email received this morning gives a bit more detail:

 

EXCLUSIVE OFFER

FIRST THREE MONTHS FREE

Log into your Friends'/Patrons' account to enjoy your first three months for free*, then pay £6.99 per month (normally £9.99). Offer for Friends and Patrons of the Royal Opera House only.

Subscribe today

*The three months free is an introductory offer for the first 5000 Friends who subscribe to Royal Opera House Stream. All Friends who subscribe after this offer finishes will still enjoy the special Friends’ discount of £6.99 per month/£69.99 per year (normally £99.99 per year).

[Emeralds]

I wonder if the streaming service is just for entire operas, ballets etc that were performed, while Insights will still go on YouTube for free? 

[MJW]

1 hour ago, oncnp said:

 

Hmmmmm.....Still showing £9.99 for me - perhaps I'm less of a Friend

That’s odd - if I follow the link on the front page and then log in using my usual password etc it takes me to stream/offer and at that point it confirms the subscription as 6.99/69.99

 

[bridiem]

1 hour ago, Emeralds said:

I wonder if the streaming service is just for entire operas, ballets etc that were performed, while Insights will still go on YouTube for free? 

 

The email said: 'You can experience the magic of our theatre whenever and wherever you want. Enjoy 45 stunning works from the rich archives of The Royal Ballet and The Royal Opera and over 85 behind-the-scenes features, trailers, talks and Insights.'

[Nina99]

Not long after I received the friends email I tried to sign up for the stream at the reduced rates and having entered my details, when it came to confirming the payment, all I got was an error message telling me to contact the box office. I duly did this and some helpful lady promised to get someone from the friends to ring me back but so far I haven’t heard anything. 

[Swan]

I kept getting an error message when trying to submit payment details and phoned the box office as instructed. They were very helpful and asked me to send a screenshot which I have now done.

 

However I have subsequently received 4 emails confirming my subscription even though I had made 4 unsuccessful attempts earlier so its back to the box office for help! 🤔🤣

 

Very happy to have 3 months free. 😃

[alison]

Server Error 503  

[Emeralds]

1 hour ago, bridiem said:

 

The email said: 'You can experience the magic of our theatre whenever and wherever you want. Enjoy 45 stunning works from the rich archives of The Royal Ballet and The Royal Opera and over 85 behind-the-scenes features, trailers, talks and Insights.'

Perhaps they’ll include all the free trailers, Insights etc, on the Streaming Service with no ads (many would welcome that) but leave them on YouTube also. After all, monetised videos (which theirs are) on YouTube make them a fair amount of money every time someone clicks on their video and the ads run. The YouTube content also act as a form of advertising to encourage viewers to book their ballets and operas, and some can be declared to the Arts Council and government as community engagement for their educational value. I know I’ve actually booked a few productions after watching their YouTube clips.

Edited October 4, 2022 by Emeralds

[art_enthusiast]

Yep - if they stop posting on YouTube, I think it will be very detrimental from a marketing perspective. I've been able to encourage friends of mine to book for an opera by showing them trailers and insights on YouTube. Without these, I doubt they would have been interested.

[Nina99]

After making three unsuccessful attempts to subscribe to the stream, I’ve now had three emails confirming my subscription, so I guess it’s back to the box office for me. I still haven’t heard the promised call back from the friends though.

 

However, the stream is now working perfectly for me, and there are several items, including rehearsals that I haven’t seen before so I’ll be happy to watch them. It is to be hoped that new items will be added from time to time, but if not I’ve only signed up for a monthly subscription so it will be easier to cancel once I’ve seen everything.

[RosiesDream]

Sorry to be grumpy, but I am NOT going to subscribe at a tenner a month for that lot. I would rather save the cash for the DVDs - at least they won't be taken off stream. Anyways, looking at the offerings I've either got the DVD already, or I'm not bothered because I don't care for the dancers or the  programme. Why don't they stream some of their back catalogue? There are past productions I would give my right arm to see. 

[zxDaveM]

 

25 minutes ago, RosiesDream said:

Sorry to be grumpy, but I am NOT going to subscribe at a tenner a month for that lot. I would rather save the cash for the DVDs - at least they won't be taken off stream. Anyways, looking at the offerings I've either got the DVD already, or I'm not bothered because I don't care for the dancers or the  programme. Why don't they stream some of their back catalogue? There are past productions I would give my right arm to see. 

 

Same. I might have subscribed had they been showing multiple casts of various productions

[ellyb]

It's not a particularly exciting offering at present but I've signed up as hopefully if this is seen to be working it'll be extended to not only new productions but - fingers crossed - to previous non-released productions. I am a bit confused at what's been chosen though, many of the ballets are regularly shown on Sky Arts and 'The Art of Vadim Muntagirov' has only recently been released so why give those away for free? Would've thought that throwing a few oldies and/or non-dvd favourites that people are begging to see again would have made a lot more sense, I would guess that much of their intended audience will either have these shows or not want them. 

[Linnzi5]

I have signed up - had no trouble, but I rarely do on my iPhone. I’m hoping there will be more added in the future. I’m sitting in ROH  now waiting for Mayerling (friends rehearsal). No idea who will be performing! 

[ninamargaret]

Signed up with no problems, but it appears that my Amazon Fire stick is too old for the ROH app. However, I seem to be able to access it on my TV using my link to the ROH stream, so at least I can play around and see what happens while I've got it for free!

[maryrosesatonapin]

I think this is very poor value.  Marquee and Medici are a similar price but with a much wider offering.  I wish we could pay-per-view just the things we wanted (as I have seen or own most of this already).

 

[jmhopton]

Well I've just signed up no problem, as the reduced rate Friends  more in (hopeful) anticipation of things to come than what's there as I have everything currently on offer that I want.

 

I see if you scroll down to near the end there is what looks like a sample page with Sleeping Beauty at the top but  just below it is Month in the Country. I hope it is the recent one and it will appear soon (though I'm still bitterly disappointed they didn't film Vadim's cast with Morera. I'd willingly lay out the annual £69 to get that.) You think they'd start with at least one new opera and ballet to encourage enthusiasts who've already bought what's currently available, to sign up.

 

Is there any indication how long they will remain available? Will they stream all the cinema broadcasts or leave some for dvds? Would be great if they did older recordings.

[Guest oncnp]

3 minutes ago, jmhopton said:

Will they stream all the cinema broadcasts or leave some for dvds? 

 

I have a question in to the ROH on whether they intend to stream any of the cinema broadcasts. I'll let you know if I get a reply. 

[jmhopton]

19 minutes ago, oncnp said:

 

I have a question in to the ROH on whether they intend to stream any of the cinema broadcasts. I'll let you know if I get a reply. 

Thanks oncnp. I only mentioned the cinema broadcasts because they are the ones usually broadcast on TV or made into dvds. Also, presumably they have orchestra/choreographers rights factored into them which other recordings may not.

[Candleque]

5 hours ago, zxDaveM said:

I might have subscribed had they been showing multiple casts of various productions

Exactly this.
I was in the beta trial for ROH's streaming product and I think I wrote this very suggestion in every single feedback form. 

[Emeralds]

Ooh! I have now started receiving the marketing bits for this. I suppose they are following the example of other arts organisations, from Berlin Philharmonic to Dutch National Ballet (I think) in having their own streaming service, priced to raise funds for their organisation, and also perhaps to take back some ownership over the videos, recordings and clips that are out there in cyberspace that others would have “pirated” and profited from anyway. 

 

I think it’s a good way of taking back control of their filmed content and having it all “under one digital roof” for supporters and their fans. I realised when I was watching it that I must be a DVD addict as I have DVDs of every production in their trailer that I’d like to watch. 😆😂 It’s a really good fundraising item though. What would be great to potential international and local customers is if they could negotiate the rights to stream recent and older documentaries (with wonderful excerpts of dancing) aired on BBC or SkyArts profiling Royal Ballet dancers or productions that aren’t released on DVD, that international viewers would love to see but can’t, and British viewers missed the first time round.

 

Totally off topic final comment, but I would definitely pay to acquire a clear, HD recording on DVD or digital streaming of Margot Fonteyn’s complete four-part documentary series The Magic of Dance (which had excerpts of lots of Royal Ballet performances and other companies’ performances). It was such a high quality and well written, informative series. Also, the same for Peter Schaufuss’s excellent series Dancer (also four parts I think) explaining the work and the training of male dancers, with some fantastic dancing by  principal dancers from various companies across Europe, many partnered by him. They really don’t make them as good as that any more. 

Edited October 5, 2022 by Emeralds

[JNC]

£9.99 a month is a lot when you consider the price of Netflix/Amazon prime/Disney plus etc and what you get in return.

 

I appreciate it’s a slightly different market and quality not quantity but…

 

Is there a minimum term you have to sign up for? What to stop someone paying £9.99 one month and watching everything and cancelling? You’d need to be adding a reasonable amount of new content every month to keep people subscribing. But then you risk annoying people if you remove things on a monthly basis too…maybe things have to be in continual rotation?
 

But then nothing stops you buying the dvd of a particular performance to avoid risking it dropping off.

 

It’s a tricky position but personally I think it’s priced too high. I appreciate the platform costs money but they are not creating content solely for it (at least not yet) so given it’s almost pure profit I think £5 or under a month would be more feasible. At those prices people would be more likely to commit to paying on a monthly, or even one off.

 

I don’t think I’d want to pay £9.99 for even a one off unless they had multiple things, if it was just one I’d consider buying the dvd or I think £9.99 for one performance is a bit steep. 

[serenade]

1 hour ago, JNC said:

Is there a minimum term you have to sign up for? What to stop someone paying £9.99 one month and watching everything and cancelling? You’d need to be adding a reasonable amount of new content every month to keep people subscribing. 

No minimum term if you select the monthly option, you can just cancel it any time the same as Netflix etc.

 

I agree, maybe they are planning on adding a lot but I have a feeling a lot of the older stuff a lot fans want to see is never going to be uploaded. Hopefully I’m wrong. 
 

I think a monthly service is a bit of an odd choice with the amount of content they’ve initially put up but I guess we’ll see. I think if there wasn’t already services like Marquee I would have been more excited. It seems a shame you can’t just click to rent it to buy a digital copy of individual performances instead. 
 

IMO the price is ok if they add more content, especially if you are into both opera and ballet, but right now it’s a little steep for what they are offering. But I do think the Friends deal is very generous so I have signed up and got the first 3 months free which is nice and I’ll see how much I watch it. I already have a lot of it on DVD already as others have mentioned so it will be interesting to see what else they add in the first 3 months. 

[alison]

I think I've watched a lot of what is currently available earlier this year, so will wait and see what else turns up.  I'd be more inclined to buy it during the ballet drought over the summer, I must admit.

[Emeralds]

Perhaps it’s good for new fans who haven’t collected all the DVDs yet, or somehow who has a small home/travels and is on the move a lot, and doesn’t have the space to take a lot of DVDs with them. Rather like a Kindle for ballets and operas? I think in time to come, it will probably prove to be useful as an alternative to DVDs and they might even add one-off purchase options, or do livestream options for cinema relays. Still early days, but I think it is better that they have it than not have it, so to speak. 

[Guest oncnp]

The ROH hasn't abandoned You Tube. A new short film with choreography from Valentino Zucchetti today

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtmYc3PkGW4