New Zealand’s digital free-to-air channel Sommet Sports has said it is exploring a crowd funding initiative as a means to resurrect the platform following its collapse last month.
Sommet folded 18 months after launching in New Zealand, stating that anticipated funding for the venture failed to materialise, leaving the company attempting to deliver a nationwide “broadcast channel on one third of the finance.”
In a statement today (Thursday), Sommet director Andrew Reeves said: “Many have asked us to seriously consider crowd funding. We have carefully considered this and we are in the process of developing a plan to bring back your free to air sports channel.”
Reeves has called on interested parties to email the company, adding: “With this information will then enable to see if we have an ability to gain a sustainable plan to bring back Sommet Sports. If we can create this we will let you know our plan and what the next steps are.”
Since launching, the platform has broadcast coverage of football’s Uefa Europa League European club tournament and the top-tier German Bundesliga plus the MotoGP motorcycling series and the AFL Aussie rules league.
Sommet launched on the Freeview and Sky Television platforms in March 2014, but the company suffered a blow when it missed out on the rights to football’s English Premier League when start-up online subscription service Coliseum Sports Media struck a three-year deal in New Zealand from 2013-14 to 2015-16.