The Grand Tour, one of Amazon Prime’s most popular shows, could end up appearing on regular TV broadcasts sometime in the future after a boss of the streaming giant refused to rule out the possibility of that happening.
Roy Price, the boss of Amazon Studios, was asked at the Edinburgh Television Festival if he would ever “rule out” selling repeats of the show featuring Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May, he said he would not, but added that he was pleased with its performance on his service and wanted more series.
“I would expect more down that road. That show has the scale that we’re looking for ideally… I would take four more of those any day,” he told delegates in the session chaired by outgoing Channel 4 chief creative officer Jay Hunt.
But the suggestion that Amazon could eventually sell the rights to the Grand Tour to broadcasters around the world – including the BBC – raises the intriguing prospect of Clarkson and Co returning to terrestrial television in Britain.
The boss of Amazon’s television production arm also hinted that the company is planning to expand into sports broadcasting which means that it could compete to win rights to show Premier League matches when the auction launches next year.
“People love sports – it’s big, it’s engaging, it really motivates people, so I think that’s a good opportunity,” Price said. “I think it’s definitely an opportunity we’ll explore.”