Streaming Media
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The German Football Association (DFB) has partnered with Deltatre to launch DFB.TV+, a new direct‑to‑consumer streaming service that consolidates a wide range of German football content previously scattered across multiple platforms. The service, built on Deltatre’s end‑to‑end OTT product Vesper, is scheduled to go live on 22 May, forming a central pillar of the DFB’s first 24/7 pay‑TV channel, DFB.TV.
Deltatre’s Vesper platform, a core component of last year’s acquisition of Endeavor Streaming, provides the backbone of the new service, handling live and on‑demand content ingest, metadata and business‑rule management, multi‑device applications and payment and monetisation models (subscription, PPV, team passes) as well as integration with the DFB’s single sign‑on system.
“The SSO integration is central to the federation’s long‑term strategy,” Deltatre’s Chief Revenue Officer, Peter Bellamy said. “By unifying user identity across digital touchpoints, the DFB aims to build richer fan profiles and tailor offers—whether discounted match tickets, merchandise bundles, or targeted video recommendations—based on individual behaviour.”
He added that the DFB was particularly focused on using the platform to deepen its understanding of domestic and international audiences, and to support both direct and indirect revenue streams.
Alongside standard DRM and VPN‑mitigation tools, Deltatre is deploying Spear, a CDN‑level anti‑piracy product designed to detect and shut down illegal streams in real time. The company plans to highlight Spear more publicly later this year.
The rollout marks the DFB’s most ambitious digital initiative to date—and one timed to build traction in the run up to this summer’s FIFA World Cup. By the end of May, Deltatre will have taken the project from contract signing to launch in under two months, a timeline Bellamy describes as a key differentiator in the company’s pitch.
“With over 35 million football fans in Germany, this collaboration reinforces direct‑to‑consumer as a core pillar of any modern rights and distribution strategy,” Bellamy said. “Our major differentiator is our ability to deliver high‑quality deployments at speed. We can get a full service live in two months because the platform is so heavily productised. If you’re building bespoke components from scratch, you simply can’t hit those timelines.”
The new platform brings together content from across the DFB’s rights portfolio, including:
men’s and women’s senior national teams, Youth national teams, the Frauen‑Bundesliga and
Lower‑league competitions plus domestic cup finals DFB‑Pokal and a growing slate of original programming.
The launch includes two complementary products: DFB.TV – a 24/7 linear channel featuring archive content, highlights, and original programming. It will also be distributed through partners such as Vodafone’s GigaTV platform and DAZN. DFB.TV+ is the premium OTT service offering live matches, full replays, and the complete on‑demand library.
The DFB emphasises that neither product competes with existing broadcast partnerships; rights‑holder relationships remain protected.
Much of this material was previously fragmented or unavailable. Some content like the lower leagues has never been centralised before.
“We’ve seen with the English Football League that there is real fandom and monetisation potential in those lower tiers,” Bellamy said. “Some rights will be newly utilised, and others have been pulled back from third‑party platforms to sit within the new service.”
The DFB sees consolidation as a way to strengthen fan engagement and build a more complete picture of audience behaviour.
“We are proud that so much content previously not available or scattered across different platforms is now being consolidated, making it easier to discover, access, and enjoy,” said Dr. Holger Blask, DFB General Secretary and Chairman of the Management Board in a release.
DFB.TV+ will initially be available in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, with international expansion planned in later phases.
Deltatre has “invested heavily” in Vesper and is now fully integrated into the company alongside other products and services including Axis, a modular platform for major broadcasters; digital publishing platform Forge and a data, graphics, VAR, and officiating business.
The company is also preparing to launch a hybrid digital‑and‑OTT solution combining editorial, ticketing, social features, gamification, AVOD, and SVOD into a single ecosystem.
Product aside, Deltatre also develops strategy for clients “helping model the total addressable audience, pricing, propensity to pay, and subscription growth.” It also advises on marketing spend, market prioritisation, content proposition, and running content operations (geo‑restrictions, licensing rules, etc.).
Deltatre runs the Ligue 1+ DTC streamer for the top French soccer league, and is a long standing partner with UEFA on UEFA.tv, which started as a multi‑competition value‑add service and evolved into a core part of UEFA’s digital strategy.
“We expect a similar journey with the DFB: monetisation, flexibility, and long‑term digital ecosystem development,” Bellamy said.
As for whether similar conversations are underway with Germany’s top tier soccer league Bundesliga, Bellamy acknowledges there is a “path over time,” though no details were disclosed.
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