Why do the Met broadcasts cost $7 million a year?
The nearly $7 million budget for the broadcasts includes many categories of expenses related solely to the Met’s broadcasts program, including rights fees, copyright fees, additional fees to musicians and singers, broadcast fees, compensation to commercial stations, transmission costs (satellite transmission worldwide), costs of producing live intermissions—including producers, guests, engineering and announcing staff—and worldwide promotion. In all, anywhere between 250 and 300 people are involved in any one broadcast, and we produce more than 20 broadcasts per season, transmitted to 350 stations in the U.S. and to over 40 countries on five continents around the world.
