• Los Angeles Times , Thursday, October 9, 2008 11:15 AM

Ending a more than 50-year tradition, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences says that it will begin to accept movie advertising during the Oscar broadcast this year. Originally, the academy worried that viewers could conclude that the voting for the awards was being influenced by the studios that bought the ads.

George Belch, a marketing professor at San Diego State University, perhaps points out the obvious in saying the telecast is "a perfect advertising venue for films." The academy generates more than $65 million a year in TV license fee revenue from ABC and foreign channels for the broadcast. "That's a lot of dough, and it's very important to us," says Academy President Sid in an even more obvious observation. But there's more to it than the obvious.

The academy hopes that studios will use the Oscars to begin promoting their big summer and holiday movies, turning the show itself into more of an event that will attract younger filmgoers. The Oscars have long been criticized for not keeping pace with the times -- from the style and length of the show to the arthouse movies singled out for awards, the Times points out.

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