Royal Wedding (Prince William and Kate Middleton) Broadcast Facts

The Royal Wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton was held on 29th April 2011 in London is reckoned to be the biggest media event in history, with a predicted global TV audience of 2 billion, plus an estimated 400 million participating online. This made it the most-viewed event in the history of broadcast and online video.

In total about 8000 journalists from all over the world came to London.  In total there was just over 300 broadcast/uplink trucks for the event. The trucks were located in the broadcast hub in Green Park (which separates Buckingham Palace from Westminster). Temporary presentation studios were built at Canada Gate, adjacent to the park.

BBC

BBC cameras provided the “host feed” from within Westminster Abbey, the only broadcaster which was allowed cameras inside.  The BBC has about 20 cameras inside the Abbey. There was also be cameras along the route, down Horse Guards Parade from Buckingham Palace and more in key locations around the country. In total the BBC had around 100 cameras in use on the day.  The BBC pooled its footage with ITV and Sky and they syndicated the pictures around the world.

It is estimated the BBC spent more than £2million to cover the day, with a total of 850 staff working on the programmes. Around 500 to produce the coverage, with 350 on radio programming.

ITV

ITV took the BBC’s host feed from Westminster Abbey, but had a wider range of shots thanks to extra cameras which got wide shots and close-ups for ITV and Sky but not the BBC. They shared the footage from along the route with Sky News.

It is estimated at to have cost about £1million thanks to shared cameras and lower staffing costs.  Around 300 staff worked on the event for ITV.

Sky News

Sky shared the footage taken by BBC and ITN cameras, as well as using some of its own. In total, around 80 cameras.

It is estimated to have cost around £1million.  Around160 staff  in total worked on the event, including wardrobe and make-up artists.