I can break the news that South African viewers will not be getting the chance to see the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton on Friday 29 April as a high definition (HD) broadcast.
M-Net has not and isn't pursuing the broadcasting rights of this global television event for any of its standard definition (SD) channels or its M-Net HD (DStv 170) channel.
However, a live SD broadcast will be available on the day in South Africa on BBC World News (DStv 400 / TopTV 400) and BBC Knowledge (DStv 251). SABC3 and e.tv are also still working on rights deals for the public broadcaster and the commercial free-to-air channel.
''Unfortunately it is not possible for M-Net HD to cover the Royal Wedding. The Royal Wedding is a BBC event, which means that M-Net will not be acquiring the rights to broadcast the event,'' I'm told. ''There are a number of channels on the DStv platform which will be covering the event in detail.''
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