Prince Harry and Queen Meghan Markle of England. AFP=Yonhap News
It is reported that CBS in the United States has poured a large amount of up to 10 billion won into an exclusive interview of the Prince Harry couple who broke up with the British royal family.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that on the 6th (local time), CBS paid a license for a two-hour interview with Prince Harry and Princess Meghan Markle. It reported that it paid $10.1 billion. However, Prince Harry and his wife did not receive a separate interview fee. A spokesman for the Prince Harry and his wife said, “(The couple) are not rewarded for the interview.”
Harpo Productions was founded by Winfrey in Hollywood, California. Before this interview was aired, competition to attract other major broadcasters, such as NBC and ABC, was fierce in order to acquire the right to broadcast the interview, and CBS, which had a deep relationship with Winfrey, was finally selected. CBS has the right to broadcast in the US as well as overseas through a contract with Hapo Productions.
The CBS interview of Prince Harry and his wife, who declared their independence from the royal family in January last year, will be aired on CBS for 2 hours from 8 p.m. Eastern time on the 7th of the U.S. Eastern time by Winfrey. This is the time zone with the highest TV ratings. It will be released at 1 am on the 8th of the UK local time.
After acquiring an exclusive license, CBS has charged 325,000 dollars (370 million won) per 30 seconds, which is twice the usual advertising cost, for advertisements on the interview broadcast, WSJ said. This is twice as much as usual. CBS plans to sell this interview to various channels. First, on the 8th, it was decided to re-send to ITV in the UK.
In a two-hour interview, it is observed that Queen Markle will reveal the back of the splendid royal family, including the background of leaving the royal family.
In this interview, Prince Harry and Princess Meghan Markle are expected to make a’bomb remark’ on the process from marriage to leaving the royal family. In particular, it is known that Queen Markle has confessed unknown background stories such as racial discrimination and harassment in the royal family.
In the video released by CBS ahead of the broadcast, Queen Markle said, “I feel really liberated,” and “I can speak for myself.”
Ahead of the airing of this interview, the nervous war between the royal family and these couples continues to rise.
A few days before the airing of the interview, British media reports that Queen Markle struck her personal assistants while living in Kensington Palace in 2018, and the royal family announced the start of the investigation. With this, some analyzes have suggested that the royal family launched a preemptive attack in order to cut down the Prince Harry and the couple.
Queen Elizabeth II has decided not to watch this interview. Meanwhile, for the time being, the official schedule will be increased to show that the royal family is more interested in “more important issues” than family fights. “What the royal family wants to focus on is not the news about the circus of Oprah and the Duke of Sussex, but the news about the effectiveness of the vaccine program and children returning to school next Monday.”
British royal expert Richard Fitzwilliam told Reuters that “this interview is a form of revenge,” and that the public is reminiscent of the mutual slander of Charles and Diana who hit the royal family in the 1990s.
Michelle Tober, chief editor of the American magazine People’s Interview with the Prince Harry couples, told Reuters that “I’ve never seen people go so crazy about the royal family story since the wedding between Harry and William.”
Reporter Han Young-hye [email protected]
