ITV has acquired the UK broadcast rights for the Academy Awards ceremony, after Sky ended its 20-year connection with Hollywood’s annual prizegiving event.
ITV announced the news in a statement on Tuesday, in which it said it had made a “multi-year” deal with Disney Entertainment, who are licensed by the Oscars for global TV distribution. ITV’s coverage will start with the 2024 ceremony, and it plans to screen the event live on ITV1 and the ITVX streaming service.
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.”
It is understood that Sky did bid for the rights, but the end of Sky’s run as the UK’s Oscars broadcaster became apparent in August, after industry sources established Disney was negotiating with another outlet. The change in broadcasters comes against a background of poor TV ratings, with Sky’s live coverage (which, due to the time difference with Los Angeles, starts at 0200 in the UK) averaging 95,000 viewers for the 2023 ceremony, and 141,000 for the highlights show the following evening. This reflects the struggle that the Oscars telecast is facing in the US, where the 2023 show saw a slight ratings revival after hitting a low in 2021.
Part of ITV’s motivation appears to be to showcase its ITVX streaming service, which was rebranded from ITV Hub in 2022, and contains more than 250 feature films. The Oscars telecast will take place on 10 March 2024.
