Saturday August 26, 2006
Siti or Ina – viewers get to decide on Monday night
By ZIEMAN, S.S. YOGA and SHEELA CHANDRAN
PETALING JAYA: A fairy-tale wedding of a pop princess or a high-profile romance gone sour? Television viewers will get to choose which they want to watch on Monday night.
In what is seen as an intense ratings war, TV3, RTM1 and Astro Ria will all air their own “reality” programmes featuring the country's pop sensations to ensure viewers stay glued to the tube on Aug 28.
Datin Siti Nurhaliza and Datuk Khalid Mohamad Jiwa's bersanding ceremony will be carried live on TV3 from 7.30pm to 11pm.
The same night, at 7.30pm, pop phenomenon Mawi's ex-fiancée Nordiana Mohd Naim, or Ina, will appear on the pre-recorded Cit Cat Azwan talk show over Astro.
Cit Cat host Azwan Ali had interviewed Nordiana on her break-up with Mawi, the release of her debut album next month and her new book Catatan Duka Diana Naim.
This will be followed by a live interview with Mawi by Aznil Nawawi at 8.30pm, also on Astro.
To make things spicier, Nordiana will be interviewed by actor Rosyam Noor live on RTM1, also at 8.30pm.
For those who have been following Mawi and Nordiana's very public break-up, watch out for the much touted live crossover between the stations (for the first time ever) where Mawi and Nordiana will come “face-to-face” at 8.45pm over both Astro and RTM1.
RTM TV broadcast director Rokiah Norma Mohd Ramli denied the station had purposely arranged the programme to compete with TV3's telecast of Siti's bersanding.
“Preparations began months ago. It is not easy to put together something like this, especially since it involves two stations,'' she said.
Rokiah denied rumours that the simultaneous timing of the shows was because RTM was unhappy with TV3 for not agreeing to telecast the Anugerah Sri Angkasa awards show.
Information Minister Datuk Zainudin Maidin described the simultaneous timing of the programmes as “pure coincidence”.
“It is not something RTM did on purpose. In fact, we had already planned to run this programme before Siti even announced her wedding dates,” Zainudin told a press conference yesterday.
He added, however, there was no harm in having the two stations running programmes simultaneously as “we are providing an alternative programme to non-Siti fans”.
Astro senior director of programming Zainir Aminullah said the interview with Mawi was to enable viewers to see him not just as a singer but as a real person, as he would be taking a lot of unanswered questions.
TV3 refused to comment on the rival shows while Siti's manager and sister-in-law Rozie Abd Razak said she was not aware of them.
“Everyone has known for a long time that Siti's bersanding will be aired live on Monday by TV3. It is not a problem as each station has a right to plan its own programmes,” Rozie added.
Related Story:
Siti’s wedding song for fans
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