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Film buffs will have to reach for Sky to catch the Oscars

Jane Robins Media Correspondent
Monday 19 October 1998 23:02 BST
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THE LOSS of the Oscars to Sky TV crowned a bad day for the BBC yesterday. It came after a leak of falling listening figures for Radio 4, a strike announcement by staff, a revolt by journalists about their new editing equipment and an on-screen apology for a Blue Peter presenter's drug taking.

Sky Movies snatched the live-television rights to the Oscar awards ceremony, outbidding the BBC. Its all-night programme on 21 March will be hosted by the film critic Barry Norman, also poached from the BBC recently.

"It's not exactly like Premier League football, but the BBC's loss of the Oscars is a bit of a humiliation," a BBC insider yesterday.

Sky would not say how much it paid, admitting only that the deal cost "several millions." The BBC is believed to have bid to retain the ceremony.

The Academy Awards do not attract large audiences, as they are shown through the night, when most potential British viewers are asleep. But, given the hype and glitz, winning the rights gives Sky a degree of kudos and, said a spokesman, it fits in with "the redefining of our movie channels". The company is rumoured to have bid more than pounds 2m for three years' exclusive coverage of the Oscars.

The deal with Buena Vista International Television means Sky will also have exclusive rights to the highlights programme the evening after the Oscars as well as the live event, leaving other British broadcasters with no more than a few minutes' news footage. Sky is using its films, with football, as a "battering-ram" to market its new digital services.

Alongside several new film channels, Sky Digital has launched a "near- video-on-demand" service that allows subscribers to order pay-per-view films for pounds 2.99. The company is likely to use the sparkle of the Oscars ceremony in its promotional campaigns for the new channels.

The Sky Networks managing director, Elisabeth Murdoch, said yesterday: "This further underlines our commitment to creating the world's very best film service for our subscribers. Securing the Oscars is a major coup for Sky Movies and a natural progression in our movie strategy."

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