KarenNC Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 I just received an email that the UK's Digital Theater program is offering educational subscriptions worldwide to their programming (Digital Theater Plus), plus study guides, interviews, access to their archives, teaching resources, etc. :drool5: There are samples on the website. Unfortunately, the least expensive subscription is for a small school (0-499 students) for $550 (US) per year. I would love to access this program, but that's a lot more than I can afford for one student. I am writing to them asking if they will consider offering a lower rate for homeschools (more in the $100 range, perhaps). Maybe if enough folks ask, they might be tempted. (fingers crossed!) I'll also contact Homeschool Buyer's Co-op to see if they can get a better rate. http://www.digitaltheatreplus.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quark Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 Thank you! I would be interested in a more affordable subscription as well. I'll write to them to ask also. ETA: I've written to them through their Contact link. I asked if they would consider either one of the following: 1. Keep the $550/yr rate but allow a group of families to subscribe...that way about 5-10 of us could split the rate amongst ourselves 2. Lower the rate to $75-$100 a year for individual families. That is actually still a little pricey for me but it's better than $550. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted March 22, 2013 Author Share Posted March 22, 2013 I wrote through the Contact link and have received a reply from Robert Delamere, the CEO, who said he would see that they worked out something. Exciting! I told him I had also contacted the HSBC and suggested that as a way to both introduce their product to US homeschoolers and allow group buys with a (hopefully) minimum of effort on Digital Theater's part. I would be willing to look at a $75-$100 rate as well. I didn't clarify that they have a less expensive membership for elementary ($275), but it only includes works suitable for younger children. I want the middle/high school level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 My kids would LOVE this. They are real theater fans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lailasmum Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 Did you knw about this. It's the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden international cinema screening programme. And the National Theatre Live relay international screening in cinemas. I think a few other comapnies might do it too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted March 23, 2013 Author Share Posted March 23, 2013 Did you knw about this. It's the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden international cinema screening programme. And the National Theatre Live relay international screening in cinemas. I think a few other comapnies might do it too. Thanks. Unfortunately, none of those are in any cinemas near us. There is a similar program from the Metropolitan Opera http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/liveinhd/LiveinHD.aspx which does show near here, but the tickets are expensive ($20 for adult, $14 for child). That's one reason I'm excited about the possibility of the Digital Theater Plus. Rather than one show for the three of us at $54 at a specific time in a theater (plus any snacks), they are currently offering 15 productions, plus a lot of extra educational material, with the ability to watch as often as we want (over the course of a year) at home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ECMD Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 I am interested. I hope there will be a better price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quark Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 I received this reply today: "We would be happy to split the cost of the smallest middle/high school subscription ($550) between up to 10 other homeschoolers. So, if you found 10 other homeschoolers who wanted to help purchase a subscription, then we could offer you the subscription for $55 each. All of you would have access to the entire Digital Theatre Plus resource for a year. You would have your own login usernames and passwords." This is from Chris Warner, Commercial Manager. I have decided to wait a year...I think I can still wing it for less than $55 this year for our current Shakespeare study, using Amazon's Prime Instant videos for example. If anyone else is interested to take up this offer and be the lead parent willing to pull together 10 families, please PM me and I will give you Chris's email address. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaffodilDreams Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 What a great site! We LOVE theatre, and if I had the extra cash, I'd be so tempted to subscribe to this. I hope we can get a group rate or cheaper single licenses, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaffodilDreams Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 I received this reply today: "We would be happy to split the cost of the smallest middle/high school subscription ($550) between up to 10 other homeschoolers. So, if you found 10 other homeschoolers who wanted to help purchase a subscription, then we could offer you the subscription for $55 each. All of you would have access to the entire Digital Theatre Plus resource for a year. You would have your own login usernames and passwords." This is from Chris Warner, Commercial Manager. I have decided to wait a year...I think I can still wing it for less than $55 this year for our current Shakespeare study, using Amazon's Prime Instant videos for example. If anyone else is interested to take up this offer and be the lead parent willing to pull together 10 families, please PM me and I will give you Chris's email address. I just saw this, and I'm very interested. I'll be the lead if no one else wants it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted March 23, 2013 Author Share Posted March 23, 2013 I just saw this, and I'm very interested. I'll be the lead if no one else wants it. I'm interested, but I don't know how the logistics would work for an online group. I got the same response and have put the word out to my local group to see if folks are interested. I did write him back and ask about whether it has to be a single payment, do folks who subscribe to the middle/high group also have access to the primary study materials (for any younger siblings or just don't have older kids and want to get the better rate for the youngers), etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaffodilDreams Posted March 24, 2013 Share Posted March 24, 2013 I'm interested, but I don't know how the logistics would work for an online group. I got the same response and have put the word out to my local group to see if folks are interested. I did write him back and ask about whether it has to be a single payment, do folks who subscribe to the middle/high group also have access to the primary study materials (for any younger siblings or just don't have older kids and want to get the better rate for the youngers), etc. Maybe between your local group and any interested here (so far I just have two on my list and I'm one of them), we could hit the minimum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted March 24, 2013 Author Share Posted March 24, 2013 Maybe between your local group and any interested here (so far I just have two on my list and I'm one of them), we could hit the minimum. I've not had anyone jump on it so far. It might also partially be timing. With the school year on the downslope, this might be something people would be more interested in adding for the next full year (which would probably work best for us, honestly). It may be worth hanging on to see if they work out something with HSBC or another avenue that would reduce individual risk and hassle in trying to pool the money for orders (unless they let everyone pay individually somehow). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted April 1, 2013 Author Share Posted April 1, 2013 HSBC is considering a group buy that might drop the price to $75, per today's newsletter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaffodilDreams Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 Thanks, Karen. I still like $55 better, but $75 is much better than full price! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Five More Minutes Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 Thanks for sharing that, Karen. $75 is much more do-able, and having it run through HSBC seems easier than trying to organize groups of 10 families. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted April 2, 2013 Author Share Posted April 2, 2013 Thanks, Karen. I still like $55 better, but $75 is much better than full price! I do, too, but it's honestly worth the $20 to me not to have to be the one who arranges a group, gathers the money, makes sure everyone does what they need to do, helps troubleshoot if something goes wonky, gets complained to if someone feels it doesn't match what they thought it would be and so they blame me for talking them into it, deals with the rest of the group if someone backs out at the last minute and affects the price for everyone, etc. I get enough of that with a simple field trip of folks IRL sometimes, much less trying to do a group virtually! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 Thanks-I will keep watching for more news!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted April 2, 2013 Author Share Posted April 2, 2013 Anyone who is at all potentially interested should be sure to vote with HSBC as they are gauging interest. If they don't have enough interest, they won't offer the buy. The membership for HSBC is free. Hopefully they will soon post the newsletter (in the "What's New" section of the website) that asks about this deal in the Member Meter section. http://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/news/ is the one listing the newsletter from 3/21, the latest available on the website. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PollyOR Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 Here you go. :) https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/digital-theatre-plus/?source=HSBC-2013-05-23 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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