Prince William’s wedding will be 'biggest TV event ever'

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Melbourne: One thing is for sure - the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton will be the biggest television event in history.

The sudden announcement has forced networks to shuffle the schedule, reports the Age.

Taking the cue from William's parents' wedding at London's St Paul's Cathedral in 1981, which was witnessed by about one billion people around the world, William’s wedding is expected to exceed that number.

The BBC has made an early pitch for the broadcast rights, saying the corporation ‘very much hoped’ it would be given permission to film the union within hours of the engagement news.

“Today's news will be greeted with huge interest and excitement and we very much hope we will be able to broadcast the service to the UK and the world,” a BBC spokesman was quoted as saying.

“If that is the case, there is no doubt the wedding will be enjoyed by one of the biggest audiences in history,” he added.

The announcement triggered media frenzy in Britain, with the BBC and Sky News cancelling their regular programming to deliver blanket coverage of the royal engagement.

The BBC was beaten to the couple's first televised interview by rival network ITV.

Diana's wedding to Prince Charles was watched by more than 28 million people across the UK, 3.7 million fewer than the audience for her funeral 15 years later, according to the Guardian''s TV columnist, John Plunkett.

“William and Kate's wedding could reasonably be expected to garner as many as five times that,” he said.

“As TV events go...will be even bigger than the The[British] X Factor final,” he added.