The events building up to the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™ got underway in Frankfurt am Main during the first week of December 2003, with the highlight of a packed programme being the Preliminary Draw on 5 December.

The match-ups for the preliminary round and the second round are now determined.

Casting an eye ahead to the final competition itself, FIFA and OK 2006 also revealed during that week the official match schedule.

Broadcast Operations

HBS was the Host Broadcaster of the event and worked in close relation with two partners: the German broadcaster ZDF - under the direction of Wolfgang Sell - produced the International Signal and T-Systems provided the unilateral facilities.

HBS, together with Eurovision Services, organised the satellite distribution and provided guide commentary in English.

Key figures: 54 customers 50 satellite distributions provided 38 countries

These figures represent all Confederations except for CONMEBOL which was not part of the Draw

Broadcast Information Meeting

Another major event of the week was the first Broadcast Information Meeting of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™.

During the meeting, Francis Tellier has been proud to announce a major breakthrough in the history of FIFA World Cup™ broadcasting:

HBS will produce the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ Germany in Widescreen (16/9) HDTV digital format.

For more details, click here.