ITV has attained the UK broadcast rights for the Academy Awards ceremony, after Sky's 20-year deal with rightsholder Disney Entertainment ended in August.
The "multi-year deal" will begin with the 96th Oscars, which ITV will broadcast and stream live from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on ITV1 and ITVX.
Future Oscars ceremonies will also be available across ITV's platforms and programming.
ITV's motivation seems to be in part to promote their film selection on ITVX, their streaming platform which recently reached 2 billion streams since its launch in December 2022. Darren Nartey, Senior Acquisitions Manager for ITV and ITVX, commented: “We are thrilled to be able to exclusively bring the Oscars to film fans all across the UK, furthering and complementing our commitment to films across our network.
“We already have a fantastic collection of over 250 feature films available on ITVX at any one time and are looking forward to sharing the movie-event of the year with our viewers.”
The 96th Academy Awards will air exclusively on ITV1 and ITVX in the UK on 10 March, 2024.
