Uncovering and explaining how our digital world is changing — and changing us.

This story is part of a group of stories called

The annual Oscars movie awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, kicks off tonight at 8:30 pm ET, 5:30 pm PT.

As in past years, the Oscars won’t be the easiest show to stream online — unlike, say, the Super Bowl, which Fox streamed live on its website and apps.

ABC, the U.S. network that televises the Oscars, will offer a livestream on its website, abc.com, and via the ABC app for various mobile and connected-TV platforms.

But in a show of how much ABC still really wants you to watch the Oscars via an old-fashioned TV service, the stream is restricted to people living in specific markets who subscribe to participating TV providers.

Those markets are: “Chicago, Fresno, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Raleigh-Durham and San Francisco.” The provider list includes the major companies: Comcast*, Charter Spectrum, AT&T U-Verse, Verizon and DirecTV.

In addition, DirecTV subscribers in some other markets will also be able to access the stream, according to ABC’s Oscars FAQ. Those are: “Albuquerque, Boston, Ft. Smith/Fayetteville, Jackson (Mississippi), Kansas City, Milwaukee, Monterey-Salinas, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Pittsburgh, Portland-Auburn (Maine), Savannah and West Palm Beach.”

There will also be a companion show streamed online, called “The Oscars: All Access,” starting at 7 pm ET.

According to Variety, the show will include “red-carpet highlights, backstage footage and live look-ins of the main event.” It will stream live on the Academy’s Facebook page, plus on Oscars.com, the ABC app and via some Comcast platforms, such as its X1 cable box and Xfinity apps.

However, this doesn’t sound like it would be any sort of replacement for watching the actual ceremony.

* Comcast, via NBCUniversal, is a minority investor in Vox Media, which owns this site.

Watch: The Oscars’ voting process awards safe movies

Subscribe to the Recode Newsletter Sign up for our Recode Daily newsletter to get the top tech and business news stories delivered to your inbox. Go