The old BBC’s Top Gear is one of the most popular shows available for streaming on Netflix. Not to be out-done by the old crew’s new show over on Amazon Prime, Netflix will continue to stream the new re-formatted Top Gear internationally.
In case you’ve been living under a rock, the old BBC’s Top Gear ended with the firing of host Jeremy Clarkson. The other two hosts, Richard Hammond and James May, quickly followed him over to a new motoring show to stream later this year on Amazon Prime.
Not to be outdone by Clarkson punching his way out of things, the BBC is revamping what was the old Top Gear into new Top Gear, with radio host Chris Evans leading the show and a slew of co-hosts including Matt LeBlanc, Chris Harris, Sabine Schmitz, and others.
With the old Top Gear being a huge hit on Netflix’s streaming service, they have no plans to stop the deal with the BBC to continue streaming the new show format, according to The Guardian:
Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer, said on Tuesday that the revamped BBC2 motoring show will be made available on the streaming service as it falls under the existing deal it has with the BBC.
“Theoretically it should follow the deal of the old format where Top Gear is still under the terms of the old deal,” said Sarandos.
“So in many parts of the world we already have it picked up and we’ll continue to talk to them about doing it as well. The show is very popular on Netflix as you can imagine. There’s a change in format but people definitely prefer the British Top Gear over the local Top Gear in almost every country in the world.”
Meanwhile, Clarkson, Hammond, and May seem very happy with their new home at Amazon, with slight troubles coming up with a name for their show that doesn’t have the word “Gear” in it.
Is this move by Netflix really a surprise to anyone? It’s really just a continuation and clarification of a deal that’s already in place.
The best part is that this is all the better for us, because we’ve now been assured to witness the battle between old Top Gear and new Top Gear, so long as you put down the cash for both Netflix and Amazon streaming (or steal someone’s account information).
I think we know which show most of us is really looking forward to, but I am ready for some high-production Chris Harris and Sabine Schmitz car films.