• Looking Forward to Going Backstage At the Oscars

    This Sunday night's Oscars broadcast promises to be like no other, as the show gets the full online video treatment. The NY Times had a rundown this week of all the various apps that are available and will be streaming supplementary video. I've downloaded ABC's Oscar Backstage Pass app to my iPad and my wife and I will be in full "second-screening" mode (for my wife, as for many others, the Oscars is like Super Bowl Sunday).

    I'm very intrigued to see how this all plays out, and importantly whether the app's concurrent usage will cause it to buckle under the stress. If all does work as planned, this is a home run for not just the Oscars, but all awards shows. The ability for fans to stay engaged online during ad breaks by choosing alternative video feeds, and also to cut away from less interesting on-air moments at will, adds a huge amount of value to the event. Assuming it works, it will be widely imitated.