As La Cieca rather broadly hinted yesterday, the Met Opera will indeed bump up their number of broadcasts (and telecasts) this season. Six simulcast video performances (to be viewed in movie theaters) and “more than 100” audio-only Web and satellite radio presentations are promised according to a press release on the Met’s website.

The first season of high-definition videocasts will include “the new English-language adaptation of Julie Taymor’s Magic Flute, conducted by James Levine, on December 30; I Puritani starring Anna Netrebko on January 6; the world premiere production of Tan Dun’s The First Emperor with Plácido Domingo in the title role on January 13; Eugene Onegin with Renée Fleming and Dmitri Hvorostovsky, conducted by Valery Gergiev, on February 24; the new production of The Barber of Seville with Juan Diego Flórez on March 24; and the new production of Il Trittico, conducted by Maestro Levine and directed by Jack O’Brien, on April 28.”

All these telecasts will later be made available to PBS in the United States and various international networks for conventional telecast.

What’s more, over 500 historical broadcasts from the Met will be made available for purchased download through the Rhapsody online music service. Another 1,000 archival broadcasts should be made available in coming seasons. (The loyal public of parterre.com of course knew about this innovation as long ago as August 14!)

And now La Cieca is off to invest in Sendrax.