Storm nixes TV's Euro soccer semis

TVs went blank for final 14 minutes of game

By ERIK KIRSCHBAUM

BERLIN -- An estimated 30 million German soccer fans and millions more in countries around the world saw their TV screens go blank for the final 14 minutes of the semi-final of the European championship on Wednesday night.

Auds missed three goals in a thrilling match played in the Swiss city of Basel between Germany and Turkey that Germany ended up winning 3-2.

"The lines from Basel have been disrupted. We apologize for the disturbance," German pubcaster ZDF flashed to the 30 million German households tuned in to the gripping match, with the score level at 1-1.

Officials at Euro soccer org UEFA said that a thunderstorm had cut power supplies in Vienna to the Intl. Broadcast Center, the hub of the TV operations for the three-week tournament being held jointly in Switzerland and Austria that concludes on Sunday.

UEFA would not say how many countries were blacked out, but both Blighty's BBC and ZDF said that the problem was worldwide. Some reports said Swiss TV and Al Jazeera were the only webs not affected. Spanish auds were able to receive pictures but not sound and Italian webs lost the connection several times.

ZDF reported on the action radio-style for five minutes before tapping into a Swiss TV satellite transmission. It switched back moments later to the main feed from Vienna. That failed a second time and ZDF spent the final minutes of the match with the Swiss TV feed.

The only problem was, however, that the pictures were about five seconds behind the voice of ZDF commentator Bela Rethy, who kept announcing the dramatic last-minute goals before anyone could see them.

ZDF apologized, explaining that Rethy was ahead of the pictures because he was using an ordinary telephone for his play-by-play while the pictures lagged slightly behind.

ZDF sport director Dieter Gruschwitz said: "It's an extremely regrettable incident and we're going to have to have some serious talks about the TV feeds at a huge event like this.

"We were fortunate to have some quick-thinking colleagues in Mainz and Basel who tapped into Swiss TV. The Swiss were among the very few TV broadcasters in the world that had a direct line from the stadium in Basel to their own broadcast center in Switzerland."