Prince William and his bride-to-be Kate Middleton could never have had an intimate wedding. They've invited 1,900 guests, after all. But the British couple's big day has set off a massive media frenzy rivaling the recent coverage of natural disasters, wars and government breakdowns combined.
There have been hundreds of hours of royal-themed TV programming already, with plenty more coming, including wall-to-wall coverage of the ceremony at historic Westminster Abbey.
Every major U.S. news organization plans to be there with its top talent April 29, from CBS' Katie Couric, NBC News' Brian Williams, ABC's Barbara Walters and Diane Sawyer to Fox News' Shepard Smith and CNN's Anderson Cooper and Piers Morgan. CNN alone will have at least 125 reporters on the ground in London to cover the story, and BBC America, having kicked off its 184 hours of royal reportage in December, will air a 51/2 -hour live, commercial-free broadcast on wedding day. (Much of the live wedding day coverage starts between midnight and 2 a.m. West Coast time, though the network news shows and many cable channels will re-air footage throughout the morning and the day.)
Frothier coverage is coming from likely suspects around the dial, such as nuptials-obsessed cable channels TLC, which has 89 hours of wedding-related shows, and Wedding Central. It's also on tap from unexpected sources such as the Weather Channel (Al Roker will host "Wake Up With Al" all week from London starting April 25) and Game Show Network. Everyone from Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert, who failed miserably in royal etiquette lessons on segments dubbed "My Fair Colbert," to Kathy Griffin, Tori Spelling and Perez Hilton have staked out a piece of the Wedding of the Century.
It's so relentless, it raises the question: Does anybody really need this much royal wedding coverage? And by the way, aren't there radiation leaks, violent insurgencies and economic issues in dire need of media attention?
TV executives are quick to defend the massive manpower and airtime devoted to the prince and his future princess, since an early estimate by British Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt put the potential worldwide audience for the wedding at upward of 2 billion people, perhaps the largest viewership of any program in history.
"The world is looking for unifying events, happy occasions where we can celebrate together," said Perry Simon, general manager of BBC Worldwide America. "These opportunities don't come along very often."