US deal nets trio NZ$388m

The 36-episode deal with Amazon is worth US$250 million, or about NZ$388m, to the three former hosts of BBC’s Top Gear. Sacked host Jeremy Clarkson, and cohorts James May and Richard Hammond, will appear in a new car show to be produced for Amazon’s Prime video-streaming service, which is unavailable in New Zealand. And Clarkson will earn roughly US$46m (NZ$471m) over the life of the contract, according to media in the UK. The Amazon show will have a budget of about US$7m on episode compared to around US$1.5m on the BBC. Prior to his dismissal, Clarkson had spent nearly three decades with the BBC as a host on Top Gear while in June radio DJ Chris Evans was unveiled as its new host. With more than 350 million weekly viewers, Top Gear set the Guinness World Record as the world’s most watched TV programme. In January, local rights shifted from Sky TV to MediaWorks. Top Gear generated about £145m ($346m) in revenue for BBC Worldwide last year to make the stat broadcaster’s most lucrative show.