The Oscars will not be shown in Hong Kong for the first time in more than half a century, its local broadcaster confirmed yesterday, as doubts remained over whether Hollywood’s top awards will air in mainland China. The ceremony has been broadcast in Hong Kong every year since 1969 by free-to-air TVB on its English language channel. But no channel will carry next month’s awards. “It was purely a commercial
decision that we decided not to pursue the Oscars this year,”
a TVB spokesperson told AFP.
The decision comes after Bloomberg News reported earlier this month that China’s Communist Party propaganda department has ordered its state- controlled media to play down the awards and not show the
ceremony live.
The cause is believed to be the nomination of Do Not Split,
a short documentary on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests, as well as the four nods for Chinese-born US director
Chloe Zhao for Nomadland.
