Freecaster.tv was created in 2004, at a time when large-scale access to action sports videos did not exist on the web. In 2010, lack of sponsorship revenues forced Freecaster to introduce pay per view, negating their purpose and undermining the company vision of building mass awareness of their favourite sports. Pay per view was undertaken as a temporary and limited measure during a period of challenging economic circumstances. IMTTO, the International Mountain bike Trade Team Organisation, worked hard during the interim to reach an agreement to support Freecaster's efforts to offer the rest of the 2010 UCI World Cup free-of-charge. “International Mountain Bike Teams, Technical Support companies and Event Organisers enjoyed a steady growth in viewership in mountain bike races throughout 2008 and 2009, ” observes Martin Whiteley, President of IMTTO. “A key factor in this is the LIVE webcast technology Freecaster has developed, allowing race fans around the globe to watch simultaneously as one online community. Such technological development and support comes at a cost, and in most sports, such costs are borne by the viewer through subscriptions to pay-per-view services. However, our IMTTO members feel that mountain biking is more unique, and should be accessible to the widest audience, as much as possible. As such, key members of our organisation have chosen to contribute towards maintaining a free live webcast service on Freecaster.”