The Grand Tour
is Jeremy Clarkson’s upcoming Top Gear-like TV show that’ll stream exclusively on Amazon’s Prime Video this fall. But while Amazon paid a lot of cash to secure a car show starring the three Top Gear hosts that were fired and/or left the BBC last year, The Grand Tour might not be an Amazon exclusive for too long. Apparently, there’s a secret deal in place that would let TV stations get the rights for the show.
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According to Business Insider, ITV is just one of a host of broadcasters that are looking to get access to The Grand Tour after it launches on Prime Video.
Amazon said that it has no interest in licensing the original series to network and cable TV companies, but the site learned from a British TV industry sources that Amazon has a secret arrangement in place.
As a part of the deal Amazon made with Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May, and executive producer Andy Wilman last year, Amazon agreed to work with IMG to license “second window rights” for the show. In other words, Amazon gets to choose if and when the show is made available on regular TV channels.
IMG, who sold BBC spy drama The Night Manager to more than 188 countries this year, has been informally gauging interest in the UK in recent weeks. Apparently, ITV is particularly interested in Amazon’s new car show.
IMG could also help Amazon sell The Grand Tour to countries where Prime Video isn’t available, given the immense popularity of Top Gear.
BBC’s show was sold to 212 territories around the world, becoming in 2013 the holder of the Guinness Book of World Record for the “world’s most widely watched factual TV programme.”
