Oscars show moving to YouTube from 2029 after over 50 yrs on Disney's ABC

By Thomas Buckley

 

The Academy Awards will move to Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube service in 2029, ending more than a half century on the ABC network and more than 70 years on broadcast TV. 

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced Wednesday that the streaming platform will take over the show when the organisation’s contract with Walt Disney Co.’s ABC network expires. 

 

The deal with YouTube runs through 2033, the parties said in a statement. Bloomberg News reported in August that YouTube was bidding for the program.

 

The audience for the annual film awards show, widely viewed as Hollywood’s highest honours, has dwindled with the declining popularity of broadcast television and movie theatres. The audience for this year’s show averaged 18.1 million viewers, down from the 1998 peak of 55.2 million, when Titanic won best picture.

 

The annual ceremony was first televised by NBC in March 1953, according to the academy. It moved to ABC for 10 years, starting in 1961 and went back to NBC from 1971 to 1975. ABC has had the program since 1976.

 

Terms of the deal weren’t announced. Disney had reportedly been paying about $75 million a year for the rights.