UPDATE: Feb. 15 After additional protests within the industry, including an open letter signed by Spike Lee, Martin Scorsese and many others, the Academy reversed its decision to present four awards during commercial breaks. As a result, the show will now reportedly last longer than the planned three hours .

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If youre planning to watch the Oscars from the confines of your couch on Feb. 24, a warning: Things will look a bit different this year. Thanks to a contentious decision by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences administration, civilian viewers will get a truncated version of the ceremony, a move thats left factions of Hollywood seething.

The seeds of change were first announced in August 2018 , part of an effort to juice the Oscars dwindling TV ratings. The Academys Board of Governors said it would cap the usually four-hour-plus event at three hours its shortest since 1973. Leaders were reportedly facing pressure from ABC, the network that owns the Oscar broadcast through 2028 and wields more contractual creative jurisdiction than ever before. To cut back, the board opted to relegate several award presentations to commercial breaks.

With less than two weeks until this months broadcast, the Academy hadnt yet confirmed which categories were on the chopping block. When asked to clarify the new design, a publicist for the organization referred me to a press release from August. To honor all 24 award categories, six to eight categories will be presented live ... during commercial breaks, the statement read. The winning moments will then be edited and aired later in the broadcast. Selected categories will be rotated each year. The Academy will collaborate with the show producer(s) to select these categories.

The only certainty: famous folks nominated for starry acting accolades need not worry. The move would inevitably sideline the short-film field and so-called technical awards celebrating lesser-known craftspeople responsible for things like sets, visual effects, editing, sound, makeup, costumes and music. Those of us who want to follow along with those awards in real time would have to do so online.

The Academy finally provided definitive information Monday afternoon. In an email sent to the 9,000-member body , president John Bailey announced that four categories will be affected, presumably hoping to soften the blow by halving the aforementioned tally. This years broadcast will sacrifice Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Live Action Short Film and Best Makeup and Hairstyling. They were chosen because their elected board representatives volunteered to be guinea pigs, Bailey said never mind that the editing and cinematography contests help to predict the Best Picture winner, or that Bailey is a cinematographer himself.

Despite the Academy chiefs delicate delivery, the news hit industry veterans like a typhoon so much so that the Board of Governors felt compelled to send a second email Wednesday stating that no award category at the 91st Oscars ceremony will be presented in a manner that depicts the achievements of its nominees and winners as less than any others.

But even if their speeches air later in the night, certain honorees are still at a disadvantage.

Theyre squeezing the one thing that you watch the show for, director Steven Soderbergh told me, which is to see somebodys fucking dream come true.