The German Football Association (DFB) is set to go live with its own pay-TV channel in late May, via a collaboration with the Sportainment Media Group.
The linear service, set to run as a 24/7 offering, will go live on May 22, the day before the men's DFB-Pokal Cup knockout competition final.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
Indeed, live coverage of that fixture will mark the debut of the channel, which will be made available across Austria and Switzerland in addition to Germany.
The channel will contain live coverage of games from a range of competitions, including some lower-league and grassroots properties, as well as highlights, shoulder programming, interviews, and news reports from a wide range of national team and club competitions organized by the DFB.
This content will also be available on demand, while old classic matches and historical programming will be included.
In addition to the linear offering, the channel will be available as an option via the DFB's own mobile app.
It has been reported that initial distribution partners include the Vodafone nationwide cable network and subscription streaming service DAZN. As for the pricing, the app will reportedly be available for €60 annually.
The TV channel will provide on-site coverage from the upcoming FIFA World Cup in the Americas across June and July – such as all team press conferences from the tournament, while news reporters will also be on-site. Live coverage will not be provided, as those rights are split between ARD, ZDF, and Deutsche Telekom.
The platform will be headed up by a management team comprising DFB executives Kay Dammholz, Gisbert Wundram, and Bendiz Eisermann.
Technical operations, meanwhile, will be handled through facilities located in Hamburg (Sportainment's headquarters) and Frankfurt.
In terms of marketing the channel and securing advertising revenue, this will be handled by Publicis Groupe after the firm struck a deal with the DFB.
Holger Blask, chair of the DFB board, said: "DFB.TV marks a decisive step in the media development of the German Football Association. With this offering, we are bringing football in all its diversity even closer to the people.
"Content that was previously unavailable or scattered across different platforms is now bundled together – for example, the Women's Second Bundesliga or the international matches of our youth and futsal national teams. With DFB.TV, the association is sending a clear signal: for greater visibility, for all facets of football, for a modern form of fan engagement."
In terms of recent DFB activity, late March saw the soccer body extend its data and betting rights tie-up with Sportradar, the sports technology heavyweight.
The multi-year extension means that Sportradar will continue to hold exclusive data and streaming betting rights for the DFB-Pokal, outside of the domestic market.
