Sportainment Medien GmbH & Co. KG

Sportainment Medien GmbH & Co. KG, trading as the SPORTAINMENT MEDIA GROUP, is a privately owned, independent German sports media company headquartered in Hamburg on the premises of Studio Hamburg. It was founded in 2003 by Gisbert Wundram, initially as an agency for media evaluations, and soon operated under the name Sportainment Medien GmbH & Co. KG. The group describes itself as a dynamic, future-oriented sports media group whose portfolio is delivered through several independently operating companies that complement one another within a synergetic sports media network. The company's first core business was home entertainment: DVDs and BluRays. Sportainment became known as the No. 1 producer of sports and soccer DVDs in Germany, working with licensing partners and licensors including FIFA, UEFA, DFB and DFL as well as major Bundesliga clubs such as FC Bayern München, Borussia Dortmund, FC Schalke 04, Werder Bremen, Hamburger SV, VfB Stuttgart, VfL Wolfsburg and FC St. Pauli. Its specialty was producing club chronicles compiling the greatest matches in each club's history, alongside tournament titles covering World and European Championships. Between 2003 and 2018 it produced hundreds of different soccer titles with a total print run of well over one million copies. As streaming displaced physical home entertainment, the market for DVDs and BluRays declined sharply. Since 2019 Sportainment has refocused on technical and editorial services in sport, including club TV services for clubs in the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga and the processing of sports and match highlights from soccer, basketball and ice hockey. The group also operates TV stations and media products in the sports field, most prominently the pay-TV channel Sportdigital, which Wundram founded in 2007 and which is part of the group alongside its parent company Sportainment. Sportdigital has extended its broadcast rights to the Liga Portugal through 2028 and is involved in DFB.TV. Leadership is held by managing partners Gisbert Wundram, a Bremen-born business administration graduate with over 30 years in sports media who also co-founded Sports and More in 1994, and Bendix Eisermann, born in Hamburg in 1980, a media informatics graduate who wrote the first business plan for Sportdigital as his diploma thesis in 2005 and has led its implementation since 2007. Marco Scheel serves as Head of IT Management. The group is privately owned and independent, with no public listing.

Sportainment was founded in 2003 by Gisbert Wundram, whose passion for the combination of sports and entertainment drove the venture. It initially started as an agency "for media evaluations," and within a few years it was operating as Sportainment Medien GmbH & Co. KG. Its core business at that time was DVDs and BluRays. In the rapidly growing media market, Sportainment quickly made a name for itself as the No. 1 producer of sports and soccer DVDs. The company's licensing partners and licensors included all the major soccer associations and almost all clubs in the German Bundesliga: FIFA, UEFA, DFB and DFL, as well as FC Bayern München, Borussia Dortmund, FC Schalke 04, Werder Bremen, Hamburger SV, VfB Stuttgart, VfL Wolfsburg and FC St. Pauli, among others. Its specialty was producing the chronicles of the big clubs with the greatest soccer matches in each club's history, resulting in unique compilations carrying the DNA of all the major Bundesliga clubs. In addition, soccer tournaments such as World and European Championships with the successes of the national teams were immortalized on DVD and BluRay. Between 2003 and 2018, more than hundreds of different soccer titles were produced with a total print run of well over one million copies. Alongside the home entertainment business, Wundram founded the pay-TV channel Sportdigital in 2007. Bendix Eisermann, born in Hamburg in 1980 and a media informatics graduate, wrote the first business plan for the innovative digital sports channel Sportdigital as his diploma thesis in 2005 and has been responsible for its implementation and further development in a leading position since 2007. In 2016 Wundram developed the idea for commentaro, a project he has been implementing since summer 2018, with Eisermann as a commentaro shareholder since 2016 playing a key role in the platform's technical implementation. With the advent of the streaming age, the market for home entertainment products (DVDs and BluRays) flagged sharply, so that since 2019 Sportainment has newly focused on the area of technical and editorial services in the field of sports. With club TV services from the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga as well as the processing of sports and match highlights from the fields of soccer, basketball and ice hockey, Sportainment has fully established itself in the market to this day. The group operates various TV stations as well as media products in the field of sports and offers its services to business partners and customers. The group is based in Hamburg on the premises of Studio Hamburg, one of the largest service companies for media, film and television in Germany, giving it what it describes as the perfect technical infrastructure for its range of services and jobs in media and sport. Its broad portfolio of services is provided through various companies that operate independently within the group for their respective areas of expertise and operations; each company complements the others so that the entire group benefits, guaranteeing an optimal and highly efficient workflow through a synergetic sports media network. By 2026 the group was marking two decades of activity, described by the magazine DIGITALFERNSEHEN as a journey from DVD pioneer to TV innovator, and its Sportdigital channel extended its Liga Portugal rights through 2028 while engaging in public discussion about the strategy behind DFB.TV.

• 2026

  SPORTDIGITAL extends its Liga Portugal rights until 2028; the group marks two decades of activity.

• 2019

  Sportainment refocuses on technical and editorial services in sport as the home entertainment market declines.

• 2018

  The commentaro platform is launched in the summer.

• 2016

  Wundram develops the idea for commentaro; Eisermann becomes a commentaro shareholder.

• 2007

  Wundram founds the pay-TV channel Sportdigital; Bendix Eisermann takes a leading role in its implementation.

• 2003

  Gisbert Wundram founds Sportainment, initially as an agency for media evaluations.

Privately owned, independent sports media group offering TV stations, streaming and technical/editorial services, positioned as a synergetic sports media network.

• Sports and soccer DVDs and BluRays

  Club chronicles and tournament compilations; hundreds of titles with a total print run of well over one million copies between 2003 and 2018.

• Sportdigital pay-TV channel

  Pay-TV sports channel founded in 2007, part of the group alongside its parent company Sportainment.

• Club TV services

  Club TV services for clubs in the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga.

• Sports and match highlights processing

  Processing of sports and match highlights from soccer, basketball and ice hockey.

• commentaro

  Platform idea developed by Wundram in 2016 and launched in summer 2018.

1. 1SPORTAINMENT MEDIA GROUP — Homepagesportainment-group.de
2. 2SPORTAINMENT MEDIA GROUP — Chroniksportainment-group.de
3. 3SPORTAINMENT MEDIA GROUP — Aboutsportainment-group.de
4. 4SPORTAINMENT MEDIA GROUP — Managementsportainment-group.de
5. 5Wikidata — Sportainment Medien GmbH & Co. KGwikidata.org