'There’ll Be A Revolt': A Change To The Oscars Broadcast Has Hollywood Up In Arms

If you’re planning to watch the Oscars from the confines of your couch on Feb. 24, a warning: Things will look a bit different this year. Thanks to a contentious decision by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ administration, civilian viewers will get a truncated version of the ceremony, a move that’s left factions of Hollywood seething.The seeds of change were first announced in August 2018, part of an effort to juice the Oscars’ dwindling TV  ratings. The Academy’s Board of Governors said it would cap the usually four-hour-plus event at three hours ― its shortest since 1973. Leaders were reportedly facing pressure from ABC, the network that owns the Oscar broadcast through 2028 and wields more contractual creative jurisdiction than ever before. To cut back, the board opted to relegate several award presentations to commercial breaks. With less than two weeks until this month’s broadcast, the Academy hadn’t yet confirmed which categories were on the chopping block. When asked to clarify the new design, a publicist for the organization referred me to a press release from August. “To honor all 24 award categories, six to eight categories will be presented live … during commercial breaks,” the statement read. “The winning moments will then be edited and aired later in the broadcast. Selected categories will be rotated each year. The Academy will collaborate with the show producer(s) to select these categories.”