Munich – January 5, 2004. Dagmar Brandenstein takes over at the helm of SportA on January 1, 2004. In her position as Managing Director of the sports rights agency of ARD and ZDF she will be responsible for purchasing all sports rights for Germany’s public broadcasters.

The 38 year-old has many years of experience in the international sports rights business, having worked in Munich, London, Luxemburg and New Zealand amongst others. As Member of the Board and Director of Television, Brandenstein oversaw the core business of German-based sports rights agency ISPR, buying and selling television rights, for several years. She gained her reputation from successfully marketing the Bundesliga, Germany’s premier football league, and European Cup football matches. Brandenstein was subsequently appointed Managing Director of ISL Television in London, which marketed the TV rights for the 2002 and 2006 Football World Cups.

After many years on the sales side at private sports rights agencies, Brandenstein is now switching to buying rights for Germany’s public broadcasting networks. Her past experience will come in useful: ‘In the many years spent selling sports rights to SportA and television broadcasters ARD and ZDF I was able to build up a picture of their strengths and their occasional weak spots. I am looking forward to the new challenge and to working with the experts at ARD and ZDF.’

In the future, Brandenstein’s main aim is to create a uniform market presence: ‘My objective is to utilise the know-how at ARD and ZDF in combination with SportA’s sports rights expertise in such a way as to achieve the best possible results.’

SportA’s outgoing managing director, Michael Amsinck, is returning to ZDF, where he will take on new responsibilities in sports. Amsinck built up the agency from its foundation in 1996 and has since run it successfully. ‘I am pleased to return to ZDF and I am looking forward to my new position,’ Amsinck said.

For more details contact:

Bianca Davies
+49 (0) 89 749 839 21
bianca.davies@sporta.de