Christoph Gebel wants to become SRF Head of Sport
According to NZZ am Sonntag, Christoph Gebel, head of the SRF entertainment department, wants to switch to sport and succeed Urs Leutert. Gebel is not commenting on the speculation.
Back in December, Leutert announced that he would be retiring at the end of 2015 (Werbewoche.ch reported). According to the article, word of Gebel's plan has spread at Leutschenbach in recent weeks and has met with little enthusiasm in the sports department. Gebel has only worked briefly in sports departments in his career - at the Bieler Tagblatt and the Canal 3 radio station. He is said to have good contacts with SRG director Rudolf Matter. It is not least thanks to this connection that Gebel is said to have made the leap from DRS 1 program director to head of TV entertainment in 2011.
Notker Ledergerber, Head of Sports Programming, and Roland Mägerle, Head of Major Projects in the Sports Business Unit, are also said to be interested in succeeding Leutert. This department primarily negotiates the broadcasting rights for major sporting events and was previously headed by Urs Leutert, who also held the position of Head of Sport. According to SRG spokesperson Daniel Steiner, the company intends to retain this personal union. The NZZ am Sonntag sees this as reducing Gebel's chances, as he has no experience in the field of sports rights. (hae/NZZaS)
