MUMBAI: Star Movies has renewed the live and exclusive broadcast rights to The Annual Academy Awards for India and Taiwan from 2005 to 2010.

The six-year annual broadcast rights of the Oscars telecast will also extend to Star Movies in South East Asia and the Middle East, where the awards will be broadcast during primetime with a two-day delay.

Star Movies has been broadcasting the Oscars since 1999. This year the channel will telecast The 77th Annual Academy Awards live and exclusive in India and Taiwan on 28 February. Viewers of Star Movies in South East Asia and the Middle East can view it on 2 March.

Star senior vice president programming Ross Crowley said, "As Hollywood's most important and glamorous awards show, the Oscars ceremony has movie lovers across the globe glued to their television sets for the annual broadcast of the event. Now that Star Movies has extended the partnership with the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) for six more years, Asia's movie lovers can continue to join the rest of the world and enjoy watching this must-see event. It further reaffirmed the channel's commitment to bringing the best of Hollywood to Asia."

The Academy is pleased that viewers of Star Movies across Asia will continue to be able to see the Oscars telecast in its entirety. In addition to its main purpose of presenting awards for the most outstanding achievements of the year, we are happy that the telecast is an enjoyable experience for hundreds of millions of viewers around the world," said The Academy executive director Bruce Davis.

The broadcast rights renewal agreement was licensed through Buena Vista International Television (Asia Pacific).