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posted by takyon on Thursday July 30 2015, @07:20PM   Printer-friendly
from the second-gear dept.

In a surprise move, former Top Gear presenters Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond have signed a three-year deal with Amazon for a new motoring show. Earlier rumours suggested that the trio—who left the program earlier this year when Clarkson was let go as a consequence of punching a producer—would sign a deal with rival streaming service Netflix.

While the show being created for Amazon Prime—which requires a yearly subscription of £79 in the UK and $99 in the US—doesn't currently have a name, the company has confirmed that it will go into production shortly and launch in 2016. If you don't want Prime's free shipping, you can get Amazon Instant Video on its own with a (slightly) cheaper monthly subscription (£5.99 in the UK). The show will form part of Amazon Prime's original programming line-up, which currently includes the Steven Spielberg produced Extant, and Ridley Scott's The Man in the High Castle.

Landing the ex-Top Gear presenters, as well as ex-producer and creative force behind the show Andy Wilman, is quite the coup for Amazon. At its peak, Top Gear was the most watched factual program in the world, with a global audience of around 350 million people a year. Even if only a few of those people pay to join Prime, Amazon could be looking at making a very large sum of money.

Will you watch?


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @08:21PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @08:21PM (#216007)

    I've seen an episode of Top Gear. "Talent" is certainly not the right word.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @11:07PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @11:07PM (#216062)

    350 million people would disagree with you.

    Ask yourself: is it more likely that one third of a billion people spread across the world are wrong, or that you are wrong?

    Now, if you had prefaced that statement with "In my opinion..." you may have been able to argue your point.

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @11:16PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @11:16PM (#216068)

      Given what most people watch on television, talent never enters into the equation. The majority is irrelevant.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31 2015, @03:07AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31 2015, @03:07AM (#216133)

      Tip: more than 350 million believe in a god, and they are all wrong.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31 2015, @06:07AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31 2015, @06:07AM (#216180)

    Talent certainly is the right word.

    Its not just the presenters, its the whole effort. Look for the great editing and creativity with just about everything. Creativity is quite rare these days. Compare at an American show and see the difference.