ABC threatened to cancel the Oscars if they did not cut awards from the broadcast. The 94th Academy Awards are set to be held on March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, California, and will see films like Dune, West Side Story, Power of the Dog, and Licorice Pizza, just to name a few compete for the top prize. This year's ceremony though has been a highly publicized show after multiple controversies have sprung up.
The biggest has been the decision to not broadcast all the awards live, with eight categories - documentary short, film editing, makeup/hairstyling, original score, production design, animated short, live-action short, and sound - set to be filmed earlier and cut into the broadcast. Since the announcement, there has been talk of a boycott of the Oscars show in solitary with the cut nominees. The decision was apparently made to try to shorten the award show, hoping to draw in more viewers to this year's telecast.
While originally believed to be a decision made solely by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science, it appears the decision actually came because of pressure from ABC. According to THR, an unnamed member of one of the boards of governors for one of the branches said that ABC threatened to cancel the Oscars via a clause in the deal the Academy and ABC's made for the Oscars' broadcasting rights if 12 categories were not removed from the show. A compromise was reached that satisfied ABC. The unnamed Governor said, "We were told we'd have to sacrifice something or we were going to lose the whole show."
ABC has been home to the Academy Awards telecast since 1976, and in 2016 they renewed their contract with them broadcasting the awards until 2028. ABC also is one of the few networks that does not take part in the Super Bowl rotation, as they have not broadcast a Super Bowl since 2006, making the Academy Awards one of the network's biggest live broadcast events. After last year's Oscars, which were a record low in viewership, dropping below 10 million viewers, it appears ABC is desperate to try and bring audiences back at any means necessary.
However, those attempts to bring in audience members who don't have an interest in the Oscars may come at the risk of alienating the loyal viewers they already have for the show. The audience wants to see the various crafts of films celebrated and watch the event due to the historical legacy. It is a chance to expose an audience to films they may never have heard of or thought to watch and can introduce people to aspects of movie-making they never thought about and pursue a career in those fields. Many people may disagree about the films that win or don't get nominated. However, the Oscars are part of film preservation, and making cuts to chase ratings is a depressing reality, one that may signal that when the time comes, the Oscars may need to find a new network to call home.
Source: THR