Oscars to be aired live on Mediacorp's Channel 5 and meWatch

SINGAPORE - For the first time in a decade, Singapore audiences will get to enjoy the Oscars live on a free-to-air channel.

The 92nd Academy Awards ceremony, which is held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, will be aired on Channel 5 in Singapore on Monday (Feb 10, at 9am with a repeat telecast on the same day at 10.45pm.

The show's red carpet parade will also be aired live on the same channel on Monday at 7.30am with a repeat telecast at 6pm on the same day.

Both the main ceremony and the red carpet segment will also be available for live viewing for free on broadcaster Mediacorp's digital streaming platform meWatch, previously known as Toggle.

Mediacorp had earlier said it had no plans to carry the show live or at a later time, but announced on Friday (Feb 7) that, along with film and entertainment studio Disney, it made an exclusive arrangement for local viewers to view the ceremony.

Cable service providers StarHub and Singtel and their affiliated channels are not scheduled to broadcast the event.

Premium cable channel HBO used to air the Oscars live in Singapore, but stopped after the 2018 show. No reasons were given for why the channel stopped carrying the ceremony, but analysts believe that licensing costs, the length of the show and declining viewership were factors.

There was no live telecast of the show available in Singapore last year.

Expect a tight race at this year's Oscars, with psychological thriller Joker leading the pack with 11 nominations and other critics' darlings such as South Korean film Parasite competing for six awards, including the grand prize of Best Picture.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.