Europe hopes to have a Mobile TV system up and running in time for the European football championship in 2008. European telecom ministers meeting in Hanover at the world's biggest high-tech fair, the CeBIT, said the bloc was striving to meet the massive demand for broadcasts on handheld devices expected among fans during Euro 2008, which will be hosted by Austria and Switzerland.

Market studies indicate that mobile television could win 100 million subscribers throughout Europe by 2010.

Two technologies are currently competing on the market: T-DMB (Terrestrial Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) and DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting for Handhelds), each with different bands and channelling.

The DVB-H system has already been adopted by Italy and Finland and has won the support of the French government.