Former Top Gear Hosts Heading to Amazon Prime
After much negotiations and a bidding war between streaming services and broadcasters, Amazon managed to ink a 3-year deal with former Top Gear co-hosts. Clarkson, Hammond, and May along with Producer Andy Wilman will debut their new “unscripted” show next year on Amazon Prime Video. The agreement covers global rights for this upcoming series, with availability in the US, UK, Austria, and Germany first. Amazon will also be able to license the rights to the show to other parties in countries across the globe where their streaming service not yet available. We’ve never been fans of Prime Video, so this big news might prompt us to give the service a shot. On the other hand, that’s a big and unfortunate loss for Netflix. For more details on the announcement, don’t hesitate to check [Google News](https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#tbm=nws&q=top+gear).
<p>He’s an ass, no matter whether his opinions on cars are relevant or not, he is an ass. Please stop giving him attention.</p>
<p>You just don’t get it, do you?</p>
<p>apparently you are the one who does not get it</p>
<p>I assume you’re referring to Clarkson. Not to sound like an apologist or even defending all of his actions, but you realize that the three of them all portray caricatures of themselves on camera, right?</p>
<p>I, for one, am excited about this return. I’m quite curious to see what format the show takes, since I doubt they will do a 1 for 1 knockoff of “Top Gear”. My favorite segments have always been the holiday specials and the various challenges, with a few really good interviews. Wouldn’t miss the “Star in..” or regular car review films at all.</p>
<p>Yes, and he is an ass in both portrayals, on camera and off.</p>
<p>::shrug::</p>
<p>To each their own, I enjoy him as a writer and presenter.</p>
<p>My amusement by him as a writer and presenter is far overshadowed by my impression of him as verbal and physical abuser and likely racist. So yes, truly to each their own.</p>
<p>Take a look in the mirror</p>
<p>I have to agree, I don’t like Clarkson either. He doesn’t have an on screen/off screen persona. If he did he wouldn’t of punched the man and got fired. What you see on TG is Clarkson – that’s it.</p>
<p>I agree, some people can’t separate the TG crew’s on-screen personas from real life. It’s like accusing Ozzy Osbourne of being a Satanist – simple thinking for the over-opinionated and under-informed internet age.
I’m sure people of all races, colours, sexual orientation and political beliefs will flock to watch the new show on Amazon. Yes – they may get accused of muttering words that they didn’t actually say by a minority of hyper-sensitive and pious individuals, but fortunately it’s just as easy to ignore such drivel as it is the trolls that sometimes lurk on this site slating off all things MINI.</p>
<p>Feel free to exercise your right not to watch.</p>
<p>I plan on it. And you, feel free to exercise your right to support a douchebag.</p>
<p>Who elected you the arbiter of behavioral standards? I’m sure you’re pious and perfect…</p>
<p>I’m not setting any standards for anybody but myself. And I don’t think I’m setting anything too high here. I just like to, you know, come in somewhere above hitting your coworkers and muttering slurs on tape. That too pious for you?</p>
<p>Look everybody, there is no way to come out on top of this, so stop arguing with me. If you are going to watch this guy’s program and support him, sleep well.</p>
<p>“Look everybody, there is no way to come out on top of this, so stop arguing with me.”</p>
<p>Wow, really? I wasn’t aware that your <em>opinion</em> was more important than everyone else’s.</p>
<p>Really, nothing to do with “important”. Either he’s an ass, and you don’t support him. Or he’s an ass, and you do support him. But “He’s not an ass” is not one of the possibilities.
So go have fun and watch your ass.</p>
<p>What a bummer, I was hoping Netflix would get this show, that show was the main reason for me to have cable so I could get the BBC. Love the show and their “road trips”. Guess once it’s announced, maybe I’ll pic up the Amazon pay channel just for that show. Briefly saw James May at piccadilly circus when visiting London 2 years ago, seemed to be a nice regular joe.</p>
<p>The upshot is that if you have Amazon Prime, it will be available as part of that. No additional subscription required.</p>
<p>I don’t believe there is any way to subscribe to Amazon Prime Instant Video except to have an Amazon Prime membership ($99 / year), so actually the upshot is that you will be forced to join Amazon Prime if you want to watch Jeremy Clarkson & Co.’s new show, which kind of sucks if you don’t have any other reason to become an Amazon Prime user.</p>
<p>That’s a good point. I sometimes forget that not everyone subscribes to (or wants to) Amazon Prime.</p>
<p>Which raises a pretty good point, if I were to just look at the Instant Video option as a standalone service, I don’t think I would both subscribing. It’s gotten better, but still not enough content to justify it by itself in my opinion.</p>
<p>I have both netflix and prime. sounds good to me!</p>
<p>Here’s what everybody seems to miss… The announcement was made on Amazon Prime Instant Videos UK… I’ve been looking, but haven’t seen a similar announcement on Prime US…</p>
<p>Which leads me to wonder – is this a worldwide distribution deal? If so, why has the announcement only been made on Amazon UK and not global? If not, why haven’t they signed a global distribution deal given the global popularity of the program?</p>
<p>They actually have signed that deal. Read the post from the WSJ.</p>
<p>Something that just occurred to me: Forbes is reporting the deal is $250 million (USD) for three years, which covers the crew and production cost, which they point out is about $7 million an episode.</p>
<p>I know that there have been a lot of reports about the cost per episode of Top Gear, although I can’t seem to find anything resembling a hard number, all in.</p>
<p>My suspicion is that it was significantly less than $7mil though. With the extra budget, I’m hoping that leads to bigger / more ridiculous things.</p>
<p>Great to hear! The whole team – tripleplay. Wondeful!</p>