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Are the American Networks showing the Royal Wedding?

From what I've googled BBC America is the only one I've seen that is actually carrying the wedding. All the usual suspects (CNN, NBC, etc.) are flying over the usual big names and production crews, so I'm going to assume it's going to be on multiple channels.

It'd be interesting to see if the Big 3 networks actually carry the wedding as it's occuring during the morning news period (The wedding is scheduled for 6am on a Friday morning I believe)
 
Mainedude2007 said:
It'd be interesting to see if the Big 3 networks actually carry the wedding as it's occuring during the morning news period (The wedding is scheduled for 6am on a Friday morning I believe)
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6AM ET (I presume) is 11AM in London.

That being said, did the networks carry Charles and Diana's wedding in 1981 live? I recall catching a tail end of it on CBS shortly after 11AM ET, in which the network promptly switched to "The Price is Right" already in progress, in the middle of a "Showcase Showdown".
 
azumanga said:
That being said, did the networks carry Charles and Diana's wedding in 1981 live? I recall catching a tail end of it on CBS shortly after 11AM ET, in which the network promptly switched to "The Price is Right" already in progress, in the middle of a "Showcase Showdown".
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At least one network did - I don't remember which. I lived in NY at the time, and my mother, sister and I were up early to watch it.
 
azumanga said:
BMR said:
The 'Chimp incident' in 1953 still hasn't been forgotten it seems.
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So what was this "Chimp incident", especially since it predated ITV by a few years?
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I've read a few slightly conflicting accounts of exactly what happened, but the basic story seems to be this. NBC interupted their coverage of the 1953 coronation to show adverts featuring celebrity chimpanzee J Fred Muggs, which did not impress the British establishment, who considered it in poor taste. This was at a time when Britain was about to introduce commercial television.

At the very least, this led to this ban on commercial advertising during Royal events. Some commentators go further and say it was a key factor in the ultra tight regulation of British commercial broadcasting which is only now being finally relaxed. (eg product placement was legalised only last month, and the rules on it remain strict)

I've also read reports that Mr Muggs was subsquently banned from entering the UK :D I've no idea how accurate those sources are.
eg http://www.tvacres.com/simians_chimps_jfred.htm

To be fair to NBC, they had spent a small fortune on coverage and needed to get their money back somehow....

A few links here, all giving a slightly different story of what happened.

http://books.google.com/books?id=40...onepage&q=nbc j fred muggs coronation&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=fy...onepage&q=nbc j fred muggs coronation&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=nd...onepage&q=nbc j fred muggs coronation&f=false

http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1993/8/1993_8_74.shtml
 
OhioMediaWatch said:
I presume the U.S. cable news networks will carry some coverage, though probably not wall to wall.

BBC America, perhaps?
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NBC from what I read is starting their coverage at 3am and is indeed going wall-to-wall and sharing in ITV's coverage pool. I would assume since ABC and BBC share stories and news coverage that's where they'll get their feed, and any Fox stations who pick it up will get a feed via Fox News featuring Sky News's coverage. CBS is also going going wall-to-wall, though it's not known which British network they'll pick up.
 
jsu5381m said:
Why is this big news in the first place?
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I'm inclined to agree with you. Even in the UK, many people are indifferent. But it is a big deal for some people, and as the biggest royal event in thirty years I was wondering if there was much interest in the USA.

3am EST you say the transmissions start over there? It'll be interesting to see what the ratings are.
 
Royal weddings, and the royals themselves, are always big news here in the colonies.

Look at what happened when Princess Diana died...it was the top story in the United States for most of the following year.
 
azumanga said:
Mainedude2007 said:
It'd be interesting to see if the Big 3 networks actually carry the wedding as it's occuring during the morning news period (The wedding is scheduled for 6am on a Friday morning I believe)
Click to expand...

6AM ET (I presume) is 11AM in London.

That being said, did the networks carry Charles and Diana's wedding in 1981 live? I recall catching a tail end of it on CBS shortly after 11AM ET, in which the network promptly switched to "The Price is Right" already in progress, in the middle of a "Showcase Showdown".
Click to expand...

Listings from that day, showing coverage from both sides of the border:

http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=149764.0
 
As far as Canadian coverage is concerned...like I said on the Canada TV forum, Peter Mansbridge and Lloyd Robertson will have to stay put in Toronto because the upcoming federal election a few days later is of high importance to them. But I'm certain they'll deploy somebody to London in their places, and that CBC News Network and CTV Newsnet will have coverage as well as on the main networks.

Back here, I know of a few networks that will not be covering the wedding: Univision, PBS, and of course C-SPAN (they did broadcast the Pope John Paul II funeral, which was viewed by about 2.5 billion worldwide).
 
I have no doubt that this will be a big event on American TV when the wedding date gets closer. But why is British royalty a big story in America, however royalty from other countries is ignored by the media?

Last year, the oldest daughter of the King of Sweden was married. She is next in line to the throne. But the marriage of a grandson of the Queen of England/British Commonwealth is a bigger story.
 
I worked nights at the time of the Charles and Diana wedding and the wedding happened on my night off. Locally, here in Phoenix, it was two or three o'clock in the morning.

I was watching NBC-TV.
 
OhioMediaWatch said:
Royal weddings, and the royals themselves, are always big news here in the colonies.
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Only for middle and old-age female-centric programming.

OhioMediaWatch said:
Look at what happened when Princess Diana died...it was the top story in the United States for most of the following year.
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The unexpected death of a young princess, under mysterious conditions, is a slightly different story than a wedding that has already been over-covered. Especially since the couple's breakup and Diana's "friendship" with an Arab and Charles public display with Camilla shortly thereafter. It was a soap with a tragic ending.

The USA networks will likely be falling all over themselves to cover this handy event thereby once again leaving the hard and necessary news uncovered. We could call this wedding coverage the Disney News Network and hope to catch a glimpse of Cinderella in the crowd. :mad:
 
justthenumbers said:
NBC is starting at 4am ET, 1am PT:

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/brie...rks announce extensive Royal Wedding coverage

ABC is doing the same from 4am ET / 1am PT to 10am ET / 7am PT:

http://www.abcnewsone.tv/?q=node/3347

CBS is going from 5am to 9am ET (it doesn't specifically say that coverage will be live across the country, but I assume that it will be since NBC and ABC are doing that) --

http://www.newsonnews.net/cbs/8107-cbs-news-announces-extensive-coverage-of-royal-wedding.html
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Thanks for that. Hopefully Today will be a chimp free zone :D ;)


Like I said above, be interesting to see what the ratings are. If anyone from the thread watches, it'd be interesting also to know how much advertising they showed and at what points.
 
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