Netflix is in talks with the BBC to air the revamped Top Gear in a deal that could see the show go head to head globally with Jeremy Clarkson’s new Amazon Prime show.
Driven by Chris Evans, with co-hosts including Matt Le Blanc and Eddie Jordan, the BBC show is understood to have gone down well with overseas buyers when a clip was aired at a showcase in Liverpool last month.
They included executives from Netflix, which already airs old episodes of the hit BBC2 show and has 75 million subscribers around the world. The talks are understood to be in early stages.
Netflix’s interest is likely to cause some concern at rival Amazon, which spent a reported £160m hiring the original Top Gear trio of Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May and their executive producer Andy Wilman to make a new car show.
Before the quartet signed with Amazon, Netflix ran the rule over a deal but concluded it was too expensive.
At the time Netflix’s chief product officer Neil Hunt told Digital Spy that his rivals had paid too much: “We have past episodes of Top Gear, so we have a pretty good gauge of what audiences like. Our buying decisions tend to be somewhat data-driven. We have a lot of data to get the deals we want, so there we go.
“Clearly it wasn’t worth the money to make the deal ... I think they sold themselves for way more money [than they’re worth].”
Netflix subsequently backtracked on these comments.
It is not known what kind of deal Netflix might strike with the BBC but last year it struck an innovative agreement to air the reboot of BBC children’s hit series Danger Mouse.
While Danger Mouse aired on conventional TV in the UK, the rodent secret agent is being streamed in North and Latin America, Nordic territories, Benelux and Japan.
The BBC’s rights kept the series off the subscription-based streaming service in the UK initially but Netflix said it would launch in all territories “at a later date”.
If Netflix bought the new Top Gear (which is due to begin on BBC2 towards the end of May) it could be streamed in the autumn, which is when Clarkson, Hammond and May’s new series is due to begin.
According to sources a number of international broadcasters are keen to buy the show having seen Evans’s performance in Liverpool, including the key markets including Australia and Germany.
The old Top Gear was sold to more than 200 territories.
The BBC and Netflix declined to comment.
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