MUMBAI: Buena Vista International Television has signed more Academy Awards deals in the Asia Pacific, Latin America and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. With this, BVITV has licensed the 2006 Academy Awards telecast - scheduled for 5 March - to more than 200 territories.

The new deals include HTV-7 Vietnam, which took the live telecast plus the edited international version. In its first pan-Latin American agreement with broadcaster TNT Latin America, BVITV has renewed a multiyear license of the live telecast of the ceremony and the Countdown to the Oscars 2006 hour pre-show.

Canal+ in France has renewed its license of the live telecast of the Oscars, the edited international version and Countdown to the Oscars 2006. It will also broadcast the special An Evening at the Academy Awards: The Arrivals. The Japanese pay TV broadcaster WOWOW has also renewed its multi-year deal for the live telecast, the edited international version and the pre-show special.

BVITV president Laurie Younger says, "Over the last seven years that we have licensed the show, we have more than doubled its international distribution. The suspense and glamour of the Academy Awards appeals across language and culture barriers to a wide range of viewers, and we are extremely proud to have the biggest night in entertainment as part of our programming portfolio."