Page 12 - Sphere No.17 (Sep 2006)

3 G H O T S P O T
26 SPHERE 10
ON A WARM JUNE evening in Munich
a single shrill blast of the referee’s whistle
signalled the start of the 2006 FIFA World
Cup. In the month that followed 32 coun-
tries played out a global drama in front of a
television audience that numbered billions.
Among those glued to their screens was a new breed of elite
viewer – soccer fans who watched the matches live on their
mobile phones thanks to new digital technology called DVB-H
– Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld.
In Italy, 3 Italia led the way, showing all 64 games via its
own separate DVB-H broadcast network. The consumer re-
SCREEN TEST
World Cup success for 3 Italia’s groundbreaking mobile TV service