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Networks girding for royal wedding coverage

Published:Thursday | April 21, 2011 | 12:00 AM
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The Union Flags are hung along Regent Street in London on Tuesday, in celebration of the forthcoming royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton. - AP
In this image made available in London by the Ministry of Defence, cavalrymen of the Blues and Royals, part of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, perform several manoeuvres, including some that will be used at the Royal Wedding, before the Major General Commanding the Household Division, Major General Cubitt, in London's Hyde Park on Tuesday. The review determines whether the Household Cavalry is fit to perform its ceremonial duties for the summer, including the royal wedding and trooping the colour on the Queen's birthday in June. - AP
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NEW YORK (AP):

AFTER A season of earthquakes, tsunamis and political violence, television networks from ABC to E! are betting that many Americans will want to rise before dawn next week to bask in the splendour of the royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Coverage generally begins at 4 a.m. EDT for the April 29 wedding, or 1 a.m. PDT on the West Coast, where the issue may be whether to stay up very, very late.

"Collectively, people are eager for a bit of a break," said Mark Lukasiewicz, NBC News executive in charge of planning coverage for that network and its cable offshoots. "It will be a chance to focus on something that has a little bit of fun and pageantry in the grand British style."

"Nobody," agreed ABC's Barbara Walters, "does a wedding like the British."

Cable television was in its infancy when William's parents, Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, were married in 1981. The broadcast networks were the place to see that wedding, and they will be back this year. But viewers will have several other options, including bypassing television altogether by watching an online stream.

Lukasiewicz's assignment for NBC Universal alone illustrates the variety.

On NBC, the 'Today' show team will be in London for live coverage, joined by the network's top anchor, Brian Williams. MSNBC will have its own team, led by Martin Bashir and Chris Jansing at first, then the 'Morning Joe' cast. Cable sister E! Entertainment will show the ceremony live, led by Giuliana Rancic. Telemundo is covering the event for Spanish-speaking viewers. The MSNBC.com website is streaming the wedding live. NBC News is also producing a royal wedding application for the iPad, whose features include shortcuts to connect people following the wedding through social media.

advanced preparations

Most of the stars of US television news will be in London next week not only to cover the wedding itself, but the advanced preparations. Their bet is that interest in the royal nuptials will approach that of Charles and Diana's wedding.

"The young people in my office are very excited," said Walters, who was on hand for the 1981 wedding and will team with Diane Sawyer to lead ABC's coverage next week. Walters said her head is already filling with royal trivia to use during the live broadcast.

US interest in the wedding has been slow to catch fire, but BBC America has noticed improving ratings for its pre-wedding programming lately, said Perry Simon, general manager of channels for BBC Worldwide America. Americans don't really start paying attention until it gets closer to the actual event, he said.

BBC America's job, he said, has been to stoke that interest.