Interest in the Royal Wedding is increasing notwithstanding the usual whinges from the republican movement.
Word from the Foreign Press Association in London has it that one Aussie TV network is boasting that it will be sending 47 people to cover the royal wedding next month, report Sacha Molitorisz and Ben McKelvey in The Diary (The Sydney Morning Herald, 11 March, 2007)
That's a rather hefty entourage, even allowing for all the announcers, producers, camerapersons, soundpersons, make-up persons and Richard Wilkins.
Perhaps that tally includes a handful of executives and hangers-on?
The Diary asked the five free-to-air networks just how many people they're planning to send. ''Around 40 in total,'' was the number a spokeswoman put on the Nine team, firming up the boast report.
At the other end of the spectrum is SBS. ''We're sending a reporter and a cameraman,'' said an SBS spokeswoman.
ABC and Ten did not respond to our queries; Seven did, but refused to specify. ''We're not releasing those numbers,'' said a Seven spokesman.
''As someone said to me, 'That's between us and Clarence House.'''
Whether or not you think a royal wedding rates as news, it's bound to attract a huge number of viewers. In 1981, when the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer was broadcast on four networks, a staggering 83 per cent of TV sets in Sydney were tuned in. Clearly, viewers love love.
…In 1997, nearly 6 million Australians watched the funeral of Princess Diana, easily the most-watched television event in Australian history.