Oscars not to restrict streaming films

Film streaming services could see continued awards success after the body behind the Oscars voted down calls to tighten its submission process, BBC News reports.

Figures including Steven Spielberg have said films that are given only brief cinema runs shouldn't be nominated.

Films are currently eligible if they are shown in one LA cinema for a week.

But, two months after Netflix's Roma won three Oscars, the governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decided against any changes.

Spielberg is a governor of the Academy but wasn't at the meeting where the potential changes were discussed on Tuesday. He told the New York Times he wanted the cinema experience "to remain relevant in our culture".

Netflix has previously said it should be easier for people who can't get to the cinema to see films.

At Tuesday's meeting, the Academy decided that movies will remain eligible if they are released in at least one Los Angeles cinema for at least a week before or at the same time as they are made available to stream.