Netflix lost bid for Top Gear’s Clarkson

Netflix chief Reed Hastings has revealed his company had been in the running to sign up former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson but was outbid by streaming rival Amazon Prime.

Clarkson and fellow ex-Top Gear presenters Richard Hammond and James May were on the market last year after their departure from the BBC.

Hastings said his US-based streamer had bid to house Clarkson’s next project, since titled The Grand Tour, but had been beaten by a rival offer from Amazon, reported to be be worth US$250m for 36 episodes over three years.

“We bid on Jeremy Clarkson’s show and they bid more. By the time they won it, we were like ‘wow, that’s a lot of money,’” Hastings told the Guardian. “Maybe it’ll work for them, it might well. It could be a great show. You can’t tell until you’ve seen it.”

Hastings, who has seen Netflix’s share price come under pressure over recent months after subscriber growth failed to impress investors, added that Amazon is only one of a number of competitors.

“We lost on that one, there’s other ones we won. They are in the bidding, but so is Hulu in the US, so is HBO, and we were bidding [against] Channel 4 for Black Mirror.”

Hastings also responded to comments from FX chief John Landgraf last week, after he said Netflix was partly behind the ongoing surge in scripted TV that would see the number of shows potentially rising above 500 in the US by 2017.

“He can produce less, but we are going to produce more,” he said, adding that he was unsure if traditional media companies could continue to increase what they pay for content.

“I’m not sure for them, they might have to cut back, but we are going to grow. It’s sustainable because the new content helps us grow… I’m not sure about in their model – if they are complaining about it, they can fix their side. Our side is working fine.”