The new series of Top Gear will be broadcasted on Netflix internationally, according to a BuzzFeed report.
Netflix was a favourite to obtain Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May’s new motoring show, but it was outbid by Amazon. Now it seems it will be showing the BBC’s revamped Top Gear instead, which features six presenters and The Stig.
In an interview with BuzzFeed news, Netflix streaming service boss Ted Sarandos is said to have confirmed the news publicly, saying that the show will “fall under the same deals” of international distribution as the existing Top Gear.
Sarandos was asked about whether Top Gear will be broadcasted globally. “Worldwide I don’t know, as there are pockets of output deals that block all of those things, so we can only control worldwide on things that we can control outright, or things we take on very early in their life.”
Sarandos did, however, admit overseas Netflix subscribers will be getting a taste of the new show. “But multi-territory for sure,” he added.
BuzzFeed also spoke to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who confirmed it was in contention for the Clarkson motoring show. “[Clarkson, Hammond and May] bid themselves out to many people and to the highest price, like most creators do.”
“It’s a natural process and Amazon paid the highest price,” he added, a figure rumoured to be around £160 million for 36 episodes split across three seasons.
BBC Worldwide is yet to comment on the Netflix news, but we can confirm the streaming service was in attendance at the BBC Worldwide Showcase where Top Gear‘s new presenters (save for Eddie Jordan) and the new format were shown off to potential international buyers.
If the news is true, it would mean the new Top Gear show directly competes with the unnamed Amazon rival, which will air on Amazon Prime in the Autumn.
The BBC recently released the first trailer for Top Gear to much criticism from the Internet, which is still mourning the loss of its worldwide famous trio of presenters.
Amazon has so far released two trailers, the first of which shows the trio cruising around in a ‘brilliant’ Mercedes contraption and the second sees them brainstorming a name – and it’s very unsuccessful.
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