Top Gear gets Nine airdate
Nine has announced that it is to fast-track the latest series of Top Gear to air from next Tuesday.
The latest Top Gear episodes – its 15th series – started airing in the UK on June 27.
The announcement:
The brand new season of Top Gear, the world’s biggest car show, premieres on Channel Nine with a full-throttle, high-octane, 90-minute special on Tuesday, July 27 at 7.30pm.
Fast tracked? I watched this episode 3 weeks ago and will have the latest episode waiting for me when I get home tonight.
Hi David,
I did initially put “fast tracked” in quotation marks, but then I decided I was being unfair.
Compared to days of yore, a month behind its original UK transmission is still reasonably fast.
Obviously not fast enough to beat piracy, but I’m not sure that even 48 hours later would do that these days.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
Didn’t 9 only show two episodes to date of the previous series? I don’t think this is ‘fast tracking’ as such, it’s more impressive than that. Channel 9 have jumped into the space/time continuum business!
Same here David – it’s a very important point.
If networks could be that organised, I would definitely watch new Top Gear on Nine if I could see it nowhere else.
In order to maximise eyeballs on screens – Network TV series should play at the same time worldwide.
Definitely much improved, but one month is still a long time. When the term “fast tracked” first became a brand attached to big shows like Lost & Prison Break years ago they were airing the episodes within days of the US.
Is there any commercial reason for them to delay it by one month? Do they not realise that the earlier they air it the more viewers they will get? Do they pay more to get it sooner or it just for scheduling reasons?
Ha! I love it;
“Plus, Richard gives the old faithful Chevrolet Lacetti a dignified send off before he and Jeremy host a star-studded tea party to welcome in a shiny new model Reasonably Priced Car…”
There’s almost no one in the line-up (I’ve seen the episode) that Australian’s will know.
Nine could be showing TG on Monday nights at 8:30pm – 15 hours after it’s gone to air in the UK – and clean up the Monday night audience!
And I love how ch9 are claiming “super-sized” episodes. Top Gear is an hour long program – ch9 just extend it out to 90 mins to put more ads in.
What a bunch of smarty-pants. Nah nah … I can download TG faster from the UK than Nine can broadcast it. So what! Sweet FA people could be bothered, and are more than content to watch it on the telly without racing to discuss the latest episode with their friends back in the UK.
There is ZERO proof that getting the programme to air hours after it has been broadcast in the UK would increase the Australian audience in any significant way. They may lose a few zealots who download (legally or illegally) but it also gives them time to promo the episode – and there is a plethora of examples where good promos build audiences quite substantially.
Finally, there may be contractual broadcast “windows” which gives the BBC – as the creator of the programme – exclusive access to TG around the world. But then again, I suspect that many of the downloaders don’t give a rats about contracts, obligations and ethics.