The Royal Wedding: Where & When to Watch this Friday

April 25, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

Photo by: Tim Hales

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Photo

This Monday April 11, 2011 file photo shows Britain's Prince William accompanied by his fiancee Kate Middleton, as they arrive at Witton Country Park, Darwen, England. The full list of confirmed guests attending the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton was released by Britain's monarchy Saturday April 23, 2011. Soccer star David Beckham and his wife Victoria were among the most recognizable names on the list of guests at the April 29 nuptials. Royal family members from countries including Bahrain, Denmark, Spain and Morocco will also attend. Other guests include government officials, Afghan war veterans, and charity workers.

By Jennifer Waters

MarketWatch

CHICAGO

To say the royal wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton will be a massive media revelry is, at best, an understatement. Every major U.S. and international news organization and cable channel is jockeying for position to broadcast live the British couple’s day of bliss.

Thirty years ago, Prince William’s parents’ wedding was the quintessence of royal watching. At the time, some 750 million people were said to have tuned in. This month, estimates of those who will be eyeing William and Kate tie the knot are as low as 1 billion viewers to as many as 2 billion. And it’s happening in the middle of the night for U.S. royal watchers.

The hoopla will begin long before Kate, who will become Princess Catherine upon her marriage, arrives at Westminster Abbey at 11 a.m. (London time) Friday. Here, plan to be in front of a TV or online at 4 a.m. to catch the pre-shows that start around 9 a.m. in London.

Cameras inside Westminster will be limited to eight news outlets from the U.K. and two international outlets, according to published reports. The BBC, of course, is one of them, but it’s still unclear which others will be allowed.

But don’t think you’ll be able to channel surf to see different angles of the nuptials. The abbey says it will limit the number of cameras and their perches.

That’s why you’ll see national news anchors from Barbara Walters, Brian Williams and Katie Couric to celebrity watchers like Giuliana Rancic, Ryan Seacrest and Joan Rivers broadcasting live from outside Buckingham Palace and along the route to and from Westminster Abbey up to a week ahead of the big day.

When all the I-dos are said and done, there will be at least one impish take on the nuptials. Comedian Kathy Griffin will give her spin on the event on the TV Guide Network after spending five hours at home watching it live on multiple screens.

Here’s a sample rundown of what to expect and how to see it:

CBS

“The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric” and the “Early Show” will all highlight the wedding before, during and after with at least 15 anchors and reporters, not to mention scores of camera and production crew. Couric also is anchoring a one-hour primetime special this Friday called “The Royal Wedding: Modern Majesty.”

CBS Newspath, however, will do it all 24/7 through Saturday.

ABC

Barbara Walters, who’s said to be a walking encyclopedia of all things royal, will be alongside anchor Diane Sawyer for live wedding-day coverage from Buckingham Palace that begins at 4 a.m.

Other star anchors will be on hand, as well as a number of contributors such as Tina Brown, who wrote “The Diana Chronicles” and Colleen Harris, a press secretary to Prince Charles and the boys from 1998-2003. Even one of Diana’s brides maids, India Hicks, will be on hand to offer her two cents.

Besides two other special editions of “20/20” and “Good Morning America,” live-from-London broadcasts are slated for “ABC World News” with Diane Sawyer, “Nightline” and “GMA Weekend.”

But if you’re not around for any of those shows forget to record them, all the details and up-to-date news will be online at ABC’s Royal Diary blog with an interactive family tree of the royals and a guestbook.

Not to miss out on the gala is the Disney Channel, which will present “A Modern Fairytale: The Royal Wedding Week” aimed at kids and families during the week leading up to the wedding.

DisneyFamily.com also has launched “Happily Ever After,” a month-long broadcast on its website.

NBC

It’s been tough to find out exactly what NBC is planning amid reports this week that it is paring back its schedule because, according to the New York Post, “it’s boring.”

But the original press release from NBCUniversal boasted that the networks would “provide the ultimate in cross-platform cover age” from London involving “close work” with ITN, its U.K. broadcast partner.

Meredith Vieira and Matt Lauer are hosting what NBC is calling “an exclusive, behind-the-scenes” documentary of the making of the royal wedding.

Natalie Morales and Vieira will report live from London until Lauer, Ann Curry and Al Roker join the party on Thursday and, of course, for the wedding day coverage on Friday. Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb will be in on coverage on Friday.

Brian Williams is also anchoring “NBC Nightly News” from London and Martin Bashir will anchor MSNBC’s coverage from London. Even Joe Scarborough and friends and the “Morning Joe” show will be based in London the week ahead of the wedding.

That’s not all, though. “Dateline,” “Weekend Today,” “Weekend Nightly News,” “Way Too Early,” “Access Hollywood,” E!, Telemundo and, yes, the Weather Channel too, will all broadcast live from London. And .. there’s an iPad app, The Royal Wedding by NBC News, available.

FOX

Shepard Smith and Martha McCallum will lead the coverage on game day, beginning at 4 a.m. Greta Van Susteren will weigh in, and Gretchen Carlson and Jonathan Hunt will report from Westminster Abbey. Joan Lunden, former “Good Morning America host,” will offer her thoughts, as will Paul Burrell, a former member of the British royal household and one-time butler to Diana.

FoxNews.com, like most of its competitors, dedicated a website page on the royal wedding beginning this week.

CNN

Piers Morgan, a native Brit, is as pumped for the royal wedding as all of Green Bay was for the Super Bowl. He’s a self-proclaimed “monarchist” because of his two decades-long association with the royals and has been a guest on any number of shows blabbering about the royal wedding since it was first announced in November.

He’s broadcasting his show from London all week and called the run-up to and live broadcast of the nuptials “ratings and circulation gold.” In American-ese, that would be “two Super Bowls and an ’American Idol’ finale” all in one, he said.

Anderson Cooper and Kiran Chetry also will broadcast live from London, and Soledad O’Brien will host a documentary on Kate. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that CNN will have 400 staffers covering the wedding and compared it to the number of CNN staffers in Japan then, which was 50.

CNN began its coverage on April 2 with half-hour specials hosted by Richard Quest and will continue it till “Anderson Cooper 360” at 10 p.m. on Friday, April 29. HLN’s Brooke Anderson will co-anchor “Showbiz Tonight” from London, too.

TLC

TLC may have the most aggressive wedding coverage stateside, scheduling 16 royal wedding-ish shows started last Friday. And that doesn’t include what’s already been on the air since February.

The week-ahead programming will include the usual William-and-Kate love-story program about their meeting in college and their courtship as well as a “Say Yes to the Dress” program marathon and a “Princess Brides Special.”

The royal wedding itself will be thoroughly examined in five separate programs beginning Thursday, April 28, with “The Making of the Royal Wedding” through live coverage of the event to an encore that will last be shown on Sunday, May 1.

Charles and Diana’s wedding and marriage also are explored and even Prince Harry gets a show. The site, too, is jammed with royal wedding-related videos and stories, including one on how to marry a prince. (The first rule: Become a prominent member of society.)

TLC also grabbed the jumbotrons in Times Square on the wedding day for a viewing party and will pay singer/songwriter Colbie Caillat to perform her new single “I Do.”

BBC America

There will be no channel, news organization or online site with more access and coverage than the BBC, which will carry 5.5 hours of live, commercial-free coverage on BBC America through a simulcast with BBC ONE, the flagship network. The coverage, which will be broadcast from within Westminster Abbey as well as every major royal site in London, begins at 3 a.m.

If you don’t have access to BBC, no need to fret. The BBC.com will stream the wedding live beginning at 5:45 a.m. at www/bbc.com/royalwedding where you’ll see the first glimpse of Kate’s wedding dress to the moment the newly-weds greet the throngs of well-wishers from the balcony of Buckingham Palace.