Micropayment OTT platform cites failure to receive promised funds from major investor

Man City Recast Channel Launch (L-R) Gavin Johnson, Media Director at City Football Group, Phil Foden, John Stones, Andy Meikle, Recast CEO, Ilkay Gundogan)

Micropayments OTT platform Recast has appointed Alistair McAlinden and Chris Pole of Interpath Advisory as joint administrators.

The company was founded in 2018, and cites delays and failure to receive required funds from a major investor which had made a funding commitment as the reason it has now entered administration. This comes after other options, such as a sale of the business, had been considered.

Sports and clubs such as Extreme E and Manchester City had been among those to set up channels on Recast over the past few years, with the company successfully completing a number of seed and Series A funding rounds. Viewers could watch content without a subscription in return for micropayments, as well as receive rewards for watching adverts and other actions.

The majority of Recast’s 42 employees have now been made redundant, with a small number kept on by the joint administrators to assist in marketing the business and assets for sale.

McAlinden, who is head of Interpath Advisory in Scotland as well as joint administrator, said: “Recast had enjoyed success with its offering, securing high profile names from across the sporting spectrum, including Manchester City and Inter Milan, as commercial partners. Unfortunately, however, with the committed funding having not been received Recast was not able to continue operating.” 

“As a matter of priority, we will be providing support to those employees who have been made redundant, including providing them with the information required to make claims from the Redundancy Payments Service.”

Andy Meikle, founder and CEO of Recast, added: “To suddenly find ourselves going into administration as a result of funding commitments not being fulfilled is devastating for everyone at Recast. While we’ve enjoyed many successes over the years, our recent traction particularly highlights how the sports and entertainment landscape so desperately needs an alternative content monetisation solution like Recast’s. It’s a sad day for all our shareholders, team members, partners, rights holders and fans, but I’m incredibly grateful to all of those who shared and supported our vision and journey.”