FC Bayern Munich has become the first German football club to launch its own TV channel, FCBayern.tv.

27 February 1900. The top German football club, Bayern Munich, was founded. pic.twitter.com/gAQhoBfU6o

— Prof.Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) February 27, 2017

Far from being just a TV venture, however, the club has launched the initiative across its official app and online, providing fans with match highlights and behind the scenes footage as well as analysis in talk show style formats and will also cover Bayern’s womens’ and basketball teams. It has been launched with the help of the club’s official sponsor, Deutsche Telekom.

Only a few weeks ago, Manchester United launched a new app to provide its fans with a similar range of content, and it seems that the biggest of Europe’s football clubs are striving to give their fans more access to their clubs than ever before – be it on social media platforms, or in the form of apps or websites.

The developments over the past few weeks also highlight the extent to which clubs can provide their fans with content when they don’t have the rights to show live games. What the new apps show is that clubs are betting on analysis, interviews, and behind-the-scenes content to entertain and inform their fans and providing the kind of content which broadcasters and publishers might normally provide.

Of course, broadcasters can’t cover interviews or go behind the scenes with every team every week, but that just gives big clubs like Manchester United and Bayern Munich – who have the resources to put behind creating this sort of content, as well as a big enough fanbase to make it worthwhile – a chance to fill the gap.

In the end, any race to create more and more content around the club’s players, the staff, and the history of the club itself, will only benefit fans, who will have a wealth of extra content to explore – especially those fans around the world living miles away from the club they support.