WHERE TO WATCH THE ROYAL WEDDING TODAY
STAFF/WIRE REPORT
Kate Middleton is scheduled to arrive at Westminster Abbey at 11 a.m. London time — 6 a.m. our time. Friday. Pre-shows will start at 4 a.m. (9 a.m. London time).
Cameras inside Westminster Abbey are limited to eight news outlets from the U.K., including the BBC, and two international outlets, according to published reports.
Camera angles and perches are also being limited.
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 the abbey.
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
Katie Couric is anchoring a one-hour primetime special Friday called “The Royal Wedding: Modern Majesty.” CBS Newspath, however, will cover the entire event, 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.
DisneyFamily.com has launched “Happily Ever After,” a month-long broadcast on its website.
NBC
NBC reportly pared back its schedule because, according to the New York Post, “it’s boring.” “NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams and his crew traveled to London Wednesday night, but returned to the U.S. to cover the devastation brought by the fatal tornadoes in the South.
Natalie Morales and Meredith Vieira have been reporting live from London all week, and Matt Lauer, Ann Curry and Al Roker joined the party Thursday and, of course, for the wedding day coverage. Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb will be in on coverage today.
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.
43
