Having secured the broadcasting rights to the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton on Friday 29, April the South African broadcasters e.tv (who will also show it on the eNews Channel), as well as SABC3 have started their on-air TV promo spots that now run frequently.
The eNews Channel (DStv 403) and e.tv have a couple of promos that all end with a red wallpaper title card. One promo for instance sees a writing hand on a card, struggling with how to address William and Kate (in the end its just a familiar ''Wills & Kate). Another one features the eNews Channel's senior anchor Andrew Barnes who will be reporting from London, dressing for the occasion (with cuff links looking like Diana's sapphire ring no less!). He smiles and winks at the viewers at the end since the initially blurry promo is set up to create the impression that you're seeing Prince William.
It could be that Jar Jar is working at the SABC. The SABC3 promo for the Royal Wedding on 29 April has taken another approach and is (mis)appropriating the intellectual property of George Lucas' Star Wars movie (that could be a whole other story). The SABC3 promo uses the thematic iconic yellow scrolling intro device of Star Wars with even snare and heralding trumpet music to announce ''The Empire Strikes Back''.
''Some time ago in a country far, far away...'' the SABC3 Royal Wedding promo starts, followed by: ''A handsome prince met a maiden named Kate from the family Middleton. On April 29th they will become man and wife. Exciting times are ahead! William and Catherine are to wed!''
