Disney to offer online peek at the Oscars

NEW YORK - If Oscar party-goers don't get enough of Best Actress nominee Julia Roberts from television, Walt Disney Internet Group hopes to lure them online with behind-the-scenes coverage.

The online arm of media giant Walt Disney Co, whose ABC network is broadcasting the Oscars, is aggressively pushing its online "Enhanced TV telecast" for the 2001 Academy Awards ceremony on Monday (NZT).

While it's not quite interactive TV, Disney is still hoping to learn what audiences will really want from interactive TV services still in development that will ultimately let viewers watch TV while surfing the Web, e-mailing or chatting - all on one screen.

While enhanced TV may suggest that viewers can access the Web from their TVs, for now they will still have to turn to their computers during the ceremony presented by Hollywood's Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Visitors to Disney's special Web site will be able to access live programming, interactive polls and play-along games that let users vote for their favourite stars.

Several other Internet companies are also featuring interactive polls and movie trivia on their sites, hoping to benefit from the traffic that comes with Oscar buzz.

Oscar's online