This follows a dispute regarding the free-to-air satellite transmission of the event, due to run until January 29 across eight French cities.

German broadcasters ARD and ZDF had expressed interest in the biennial event, but IHF rights holder beIn Media opposed their free-to-air satellite transmission. 

beIN Media, part of Qatar-based Al Jazeera group, acquired rights for both the 2015 and 2017 editions of the flagship event in 2014.

A similar dispute unfolded in 2015, when Sky Deutschland stepped-in at short notice.

"Following the 2015 Men’s World Championship in Qatar and the TV blackout at the 2015 Women’s World Championship in Denmark, the IHF tried on several occasions to mediate between TV rights holder beIN Sports and the German TV stations interested in broadcasting the upcoming World Championships," the world governing body said.

"After they first met in Leipzig, Germany on March 11, 2016, another meeting between the agency of ARD/ZDF, beIN Sports, the German Handball Federation (DHB) and the IHF took place on June 20, 2016 in Paris. 

"There, several arguments were exchanged and the position of beIN Sports was explained in detail again, as the IHF partner’s interest is to protect their rights, since especially in Southern Europe and North Africa exclusive TV rights are violated on many occasions as some channels copy the signal from unencrypted satellites and use it for their own purposes without any permission of the rights holder.

"Therefore the rights holder requested a technical solution to avoid this, as it is done on other occasions as well. 

"Unfortunately, none of the public German TV stations was willing to fulfil this requirement.

"Since no financial agreement with a pay-TV channel was found, IHF was informed by beIN Sports that a live streaming solution free of charge will be provided for the German market."

DKB are the main sponsor of the German Handball Bundesliga.

Full financial details of the agreement have not yet been confirmed, nor has it been revealed how many additional matches will be streamed as well as those involving the German team.

Germany, hosts and winners of the inaugural men's World Championships shortly before the outbreak of World War Two in 1938, are seeking a first medal since they won the event in 2007.

France are the defending champions after beating Qatar 25-22 in the 2015 final.