Top Gear switches to Nine
October 23, 2009 by Alborz Fallah
This week’s report didn’t seem bogus after all, the Nine Network has taken the motoring show Top Gear from SBS as confirmed by news reports today.
Channel Nine has made a deal with BBC Worldwide Australia which includes British and Australian versions of the show.
Nine’s chief executive David Gyngell said the Top Gear agreement was a landmark partnership with BBC Worldwide.
“We are genuinely excited to have Top Gear under the Nine banner and look forward to bringing it to an even wider audience,” he said in a statement.
In Australia Top Gear has had huge success in the last couple of years and it’s also seen in more than 120 countries around the world.
Channel Nine have not decided who will head Top Gear Australia or when it will start on Nine.
The UK version, starring Jeremy Clarkson, James May, Richard Hammond and The Stig, will be on Nine from early 2010.
Print it: 
I’m kinda sick of the big 3 commercial stations stealing good shows from SBS and ABC. At least they can’t wreck Top Gear UK and could make TGA a whole lot better (?).
They haven’t taken Mad Men yet!! :) Though I’m guessing thats only a matter of time :(
Mind you, 9 has Two and a Half Men which is heaps better….
But showing a dozen episodes per week (of 2 and half men) gets too much!
Top Gear moves to Nine – so, it’s still on TV.
Bridgestone closes Australian and NZ manufacturing plants with the loss of over 600 jobs – sad direction but it’s not their fault or that of the wrokers.
Now THAT is a news story CA
I wonder when Ford and Holden will announce the closure of their plants.
Probably after you lose your job…….knob!
He probably doesn’t have a job to loose…..
Lose?
Hung Low, Haha I doubt you have anything that would hang low,apart from your head.Its abit hard to sack myself….TOOL
Jon, it’s his cred, thats hung low!!
Shortly after Toyota.
Because we need all 3 for critical mass, 1 goes they all go, and Toyota will be first. However it will later rather than sooner as all three have serious investments in manufacture in this country.
yeh not quite, ford will be the first to close!
mark, thats only your opinion … and you are wrong.
The good news is jon is that a good psychologist can help you with your problems (eg. inability to discuss appropriately with others in a social environment).
Yeah I went to one once and he held up a picture of a Commodore and a Falcon and he asked what did I see. I said a piece of sh#t and he told me there was nothing wrong with me and that I was very intellegent.
Great, I’m sure nine will pack it so full with ads they barely get halfway through a standard review without another break.
Oh well, hopefully they find a way to improve on Top Gear Australia and not just replace a host with Darrel Summers
If they get rid of Mad Men they just about won’t have anything left worth watching. Ever since I came to Australia I’ve gotten the feeling that SBS was a bit of a nothing channel. Current affairs are great if you’re in the right mood, but I’m not that boring so Top Gear was a nice departure for what is ultimately a niche station. I’m very disappointed in them for selling it to Nine. Now there’ll be about ten times the ads and annoying little things that come up on the screen right in the middle of the show. Nine don’t respect what they’re playing, SBS do.
This is a mistake. They should have just sold TGA to Nine and kept TGUK. Then the TGA fans would get what they want and the people who can see how terrible TGA is wouldn’t have their TGUK postponed by more unentertaining Australian idiocy.
9? Meh
1 word – torrent.
torrent… and while you’re at it, check out Fifth Gear… No ads too.
Fifth Gear has been cancelled for good.It was announced earlier this week
Exactly. Are there any genuine Top Gear fans who really waited for SBS to re-screen the UK seasons? This is a non-news item.
I waited! Granted it’s because of the utterly poor internet I get in my area and trying to watch anything online is basically pointless, thank you kevin dudd.
You can thank the Howard govt for your current situation and the Rudd govt for when you receive optical fiber to the home.
Yeah thatnks to KRudd all of the kids in schools have computers …. oh thats right DIDNT HAPPEN.
Where already paying for KRudds scheme that wont deliver.
One of the reasons the UK version is so successful is that it’s not produced by a commercial TV station. Clarkson has no problems telling us a car sucks (even if we don’t always agree), as he is not bound by BBC’s commercial interests and advertising revenue. Commercial TV and honest opinion, I am afraid, is not compatible. Does anyone think that the host of Channel 9’s Top Gear will express an honest opinion about a car or a manufacturer who buys advertising space on Channel 9?
Good point Model T but the Oz version were fence sitters when it came to comaring the local Ford Vs Holden models and would,t say a bad word about anything VW the shows sponsers so it was already a diluted report.
They were fence sitters when it came to Ford v Holden because they didn`t want to come out and say they were crap.
Yeah just watch the episode where the put the HSV wagon against the Audi RS Avant. Bigged up the Holden and when the Audi pawned it, all he could say was, “That’s the most deceptive car I’ve ever driven.
Jon
why are you so happy to see massive Aust manufacturing that stimulates money into the economy,1000s of jobs and the pride that we Aussies can say”yeah we can do that” go bust? Your aussie aren’t you,even if you don,t drive a Ford or a Holden you should still be proud and support Aust in whatever we manufacture in this country.
Don’t forget Toyota as well Blitzkrieg. I am sure the thousands of Australians who work at Altona etc wouldn’t be happy if you said Toyota is not an Australian manufacturer!
I have no problem with Australian manufacturing but if they can`t make profit and are continually supported with tax payers money then I have a problem. I mean I wouldn`t even have a problem if we produced a car worthy of our taxes but we don`t. Take the best from FORD and Holden, form a company and build world class cars. And not only will I be happy to support them with my taxes, I will be happy to buy one.But when they continually build poor quality cars with poor warranty service I simply can`t support them.
Excellent point Model T. Given TG will be littered with ads from Toyota that mightn’t be an issue as Jeremy and the boys have elevated Toyota to superstar status with their challenges.
As far as a local TGA is concerned, my view is “don’t bother.” Why do I say that? Because I’ve been a motoring enthusiast for over 49 years; I used to switch on 7 on Bathurst morning at 7am and keep it there all day – at least back in the days when there was a competition. Falcons, Holdens, Minis, Nissan, RX7’s, Sierras – all great stuff. Then, of course, CAMS threw a wobbly and turned motor racing here into a 2 street competition between Yellow Cabs and Black and White. As I type, 7 is showing the taxi qualifying at Surfers, but who can be bothered?
The point I’m making is that a 9 version of TGA would test the waters to ascertain its market and instead of getting the broad range of reviews, we will end up with a TV version of Motor Magazine, with interminable variations of taxis with ridiculous scaffolding, appalling upholstery and no class whatsoever becoming the norm. it will become a hotrod show for tradies with utes. No thanks. Some of us are a bit beyond that.
How do you know that will happen ?
And this weeks Top Gear presented by Toyota
We road test the Camry,Yaris,Prius,Corolla and Aurion and guess what?
They’re all great!
I wonder if Top Gear UK will be edited to remove any car review unfavourable to 9’s advertisers. For example: If Ford are advertising in this slot and Clarkson comes out and declares Fords latest product as a dud, will we get a bonus 10 minutes of extra advertising instead of seeing that road test?
Note to David Gyngell… don’t f*ck it up! TG is a great show, don’t fill it full of ads!
I s’pose we can still down load TG UK from o/s if channel nine bastardise the show too much!
SBS already cut stuff out of TGUK to make it fit in the hour time slot with their short ‘commercial breaks’, I would hate to see how much Ch9 will cut out!
I emailed SBS and they replied saying that the BBC put out an international version, which is the one they show. They denied cutting anything out. Any bits are removed by the BBC prior to SBS receiving it.
Just LOL!!…massive FAIL coming up…
TGUK as we all know is anywhere from 58 to 62 minutes long for each episode and TGA was running at about 47 to 49 minutes so the 3 way \”how hard can it be\’s\” were shorter in TGA and not as entertaining because of the time limits I feel. The average sidcom Law and Order, Packed to the Rafter etc etc is about 42 minutes in length so I dont see how on channel nine can do the justice to the show, unless they make room for one and a half hours to equal BBC\’s hour show.
At least I was lucky enough to see the live filming of the SBS version last season. Speaking to Warren and the others one on one was great and in person they are good guys, in some ways TGA was better to be involved in than the UK live stage show.
TGUK is a great show and Channel 9 is a friggin lousy TV channel these days. This is my ranking of the commercial stations.. 7 and 10 > 9.
Of course they’ll fill it with ads, its channel 9!
It aint called commercial television for nothing.
Anyway I havent watched top gear on TV for a LOOOOONG time.
Go to youtube, punch in episode you want to watch and away you go.
And if you actually want to watch a car review rather than Jeremy stroking himself and trying to be a comedian, try watching 5th gear (and marvel at Tiff’s driving ability) or some of the various cool clips of cars being driven properly on youtube around the ring or other tracks, roads, autobahns. etc.
TV is dead. Long live the net!
JJ
Too RIGHT!!
I too haven’t seen top gear on tv in years…
I watch them as soon as they are released on the net.
Once it hits SBS, it’s an old episode for me, and not worth the bother..
You can even watch all) the fifth gear segments legally on their website…
http://fwd.five.tv/fifth-gear/videos
Please don’t let glen ridge get his hands near this possible new show, how about some interesting people like say Jim Richards / John Bowe and some motorbike dude like Michael Doohan
At least some people with experience, flavour and that they don’t have to prove themselves, they just are themselves… if you get what I mean…
If you believe the early rumours John Bowe is already involved in TGA!!!! ;-)
Anything channel 9 touches always turns sour. They got 2 and half men (great show) run it everynight, repeats like there’s no tommorow and people get sick of it. I have been turned off it. I hope they dont do it to Top Gear. They must be so desperate, since everything is failing for them, they had to bring something else to destroy. Wish it stayed on SBS.
Channel 9 is not nothing when compared to Channel Dave in the UK.
I’ve copied their listing of Friday the 23rd of October. Fill with crap shows and lots of “Gears” It’s just a joke… On average, its 10 episodes of TG and FG per day!!(x2 meaning two episodes back to back)
6:00am Home Shopping
7:00am Dragons’ Den
7:30am Ray Mears: Extreme Survival
8:00am Whose Line is It Anyway? x2
9:00am Top Gear
10:00am Dragons’ Den
10:30am Ray Mears: Extreme Survival
11:00am Whose Line is It Anyway? x2
12:00pm Top Gear x2
2:00pm Dragons’ Den
2:30pm Ray Mears: Extreme Survival
3:00pm Fifth Gear x2
4:00pm Top Gear x2
6:00pm Dragons’ Den
6:30pm Ray Mears: Extreme Survival
7:00pm Fifth Gear x2
8:00pm Top Gear
9:00pm QI
9:40pm Mock the Week
10:20pm Argumental
11:00pm That Mitchell and Webb Look
11:40pm Banzai
12:10am QI
12:50am Mock the Week
1:30am Argumental
2:05am The Apprentice
2:55am Car Stereo
4:00am Home Shopping
You remember what Clarkson said @ the beginning of the series, “We really are back, U’re not watching DAVE” That what he means.
Also Dave have a second channel called “Dave Ja Vu” and on average it also shows 10 episode of “Gears” per day, Only in different time slots!!
If you are unemployed, and you switch between the Two channels, you can manage to watch only Topgear or Fifthgear on your telly all day long!!
Channel 9 repeats the same show 1 time on week nights.
Channel Dave repeats 2 shows 20 times on every single day of the week across two channels!!
Hey, that’s not fair on channel 9. They have been rerunning the same episodes of ACA for 10 years at 630 everynight – “dodgy door 2 door salesman”, “are you wearing the right size bra”, “is your house making you sick” ……
At least Channel 9 gives the effort to actually produce shows… Unlike Dave which only purchase shows from others and re-run it 10 times a day…
You don’t see Channel 9 re-running two and a half man 10 times a day… at most only 3~
What I am saying is Channel 9 cant over done and destroy TopGear (like 2 1/2 man). Dave being doing it (@ a rate 10X harder) and it survived. Dave actually in some way proves how good a show TG(UK) really is.
So… Channel 9 gets Top Gear and Channel 7 Two gets Fifth Gear. Whats the bet both will air at the same time?
I thought FifthGear no longer exist as it was pull of the air by UK’s Chanel Five.
I guess Channel 7TWO will be playing old episodes.
I hate how they switch channels like this. I just want one channel for all the top car shows!
Two Voices Blog Crazy
There’s no guarantee that Ch 9 will show a complete series of Top Gear – I mean they used to have the British Comedy Smash “Hale and Pace” and the never showed a full series of them [1-10].
Not only that but they will move it around from Monday to Wednesday to whenever it suits them which is one of the best ways for viewers to lose interest and a show to lose ratings.
I’d like to see Jay Leno come out with his own car show – I mean hes got a garage most Car Enthusiasts could only dream of….
Alas, another good show that will die a slow and painful death at the hands of a commercial network.
Other sites say that Clarkson will be the host with Shane Warne as a co-presenter. Shane Warne – Give me strength! At least James Morrison has a clue and is a car guy.
There will be too many ads, no criticism – because they don’t want to upset the sponsors, ads, no speed, powerslides, burnouts – socially unacceptable, ads, only network guests (who wants to see Bert Newton’s hot lap?), ads, forced humour, ads, no chemistry, ads, substandard cinematography, ads.
SBS is the best fit for this show, leave it alone 9.
The other thing is of course that Whilst Channel 9 hold the rights to the show doesn’t necessarily mean that they will televise any of the episodes – they may have bought the rights because TG was a ratings winner and competing against one of 9s Reality / Lifestyle / LCD programs..
My main concern is that Because its on 9 they may make it that Eddie McGuire is a co-Host along or even Sam Newman
1) TopGear needs that cult class channel- SBS is that
2) TopGear Australia failed because noone in their right mind would give them decent cars to review cause they know Australians are bias and would compare Commondore SS’s to M5’s saying the Commondore is better bang for buck.
3) Australia humour isnt funny. Its just based on Stereotypes.
4) Shane Warne would appeal to the drongo’s… (See point 2)
5) Topgear only worked in UK because brits are funny. (see point 3)
“{2) TopGear Australia failed because noone in their right mind would give them decent cars to review cause they know Australians are bias and would compare Commondore SS’s to M5’s saying the Commondore is better bang for buck.”
Did you see the RS6 Wagon against the HSV? The gulf in class is enormous… but not according to the idiots at TGA.
Quote:{2) TopGear Australia failed because no-one in their right mind would give them decent cars to review
I agree…. However; What about those in their Left mind?
Did you see the RS6 Wagon against the HSV? The gulf in class is enormous… but not according to the idiots at TGA.
The class difference and price difference is quite considerable However; guys on TGA aren’t the only ones who regularly compare SS Commodores to Audis etc – You and a number of other Euro-lovers on here do it just as much
Very few people who are looking at buying an SS Commodore would look at an Audi – and vice versa.. as they are in different classes
The sooner you and the media stop comparing apples with oranges and start comparing cars to other cars within its class the better.
I’d be surprised if they televised any more crazy antics for fear of being banned by the watchdog.
just as well it’s not channel 7 other-wise they probably would’ve got mel and kochie to host it!
I hope channel 9 don’t sign some sort of deal with a car co to pay for TG-AU
Imagine signing a deal with the VeeDub group & the guys feigning love for a $h!Tbox like Skoda in order to get a drive in some of the better members of the family like Porsche or Lambo.
Its sad another great show leave the public broadcasters. Its usually the ABC or SBS who pilot a niche or market and then bring it to commercial viability and it gets snatched by the big free to air. Such examples include the World Cup Soccer which was actually SBS’s forte and now TPUK.
I won’t be surprise if Mythbusters leave in the future.
Now that Fifth Gear is canceled, I hope Top Gear bring Vicki Butler back on the show.
fIFTH Gear is coming back on Channel 7 TWO.
I wish the network bully boys would keep their grubby fingers off these ABC/SBS shows. I agree with what’s already been said and also they switch timeslots without warning and start shows late. So if you set your recorder there is no guarentee that you will have recorded what you thought you were recording and you will probably miss the last ten minutes of it anyway. With Top Gear on SBS you could always be sure that it was on 7:30 Mondays as advertised and also that it would start on time.
That is Ch 7 who can’t seem to start anything on time!! ;-)
(they are all bad with that, however Ch 7 seem to be the worst)
It is going to be like F1 on Ch9 all over again…
Massive mistake.
1 – F grade celebrities with some tenuous connection to cars will host show – i.e. Glenn Ridge
2 – Token female presenter will be included to appeal to women and advertisers of womens products, and the show made more family orientated i.e. boring boring boring.
3 – Show will be chokers with adds
4 – Editorial content will be nil – too scared of offending sponsors
5 – challenges and stunts will be lame
6 – Shows will be randomly repeated, shifted in timelots, start late and end late for no apparent reason.
7 – Shows will be bumped for Celebrity 10-1, cricket, tennis or similar
I love TGUK and TGA but this is the most stupid move ever.
you guys all bagged out TGA anyway,
the show is on its last legs in the UK anyway, it is starting to get really old.
Same old format, same jokes, same lame challanges, same supercars that no one can relate to……
well im happy as I cant pick up sbs on digital tv where I live, so going to nine means I dont have to watch it on an inferiour broadcasting anymore,,,,
Not happy about the move to Nine. As previous posters have stated it will be full of ads. SBS only has 3 or 4 very short ad breaks per hour where as Nine has 6 to 8 long ads per hour. Does my head in. Also where do the commercial networks get off ending one show and going straight into another without an ad break in between. SBS do it right (ie the British way) and the 7, 9, 10 networks do it like the yanks (ie crap). Also what is the point in having ads then showing the last 30 seconds of a show and then going into the next show. Also the series won’t be in the correct order. You only have to watch Two and a Half Men and the kid goes from being really young to older to young again. I know that is on 10 but they all do it. Totally stupid.
Well its official, Shane Warne will front TGA.
Dont bother setting the recorder to tape either version as it will start 10 mins late and finish 20 mins late. Thats even if it shows at the advertised timeslot on the advertised night. Knowing 9 they will treat the viewers with contempt as usual.
I’ve often thought that Nine, Ten and Seven must actually hate their viewing audience – they treat them with such contempt, as Falcadore says. He’s right – it won’t start on time, it won’t end on time and will be full of ads, inserted without any regard to the show’s content (like on Go! recently – I was watching something I’d taped and was alarmed at the quantity of ads, so I rewound and timed it. In parts, the show went for 1.5 minutes, and the ad breaks went for 4 minutes. Effectively, the ads WERE the show….)
SBS shouldn’t have let Top Gear go – but I guess they didn’t have the money to keep it.
What I dion’t get is why there are soooo many damn adds on PAY TV. The advertisers pay to show them and we pay to watch them – double dipping at its worst.
yeah, thats right DE. Had an Austar rep at my door a while ago trying to sell me pay tv, i asked if they still had commercials (knowing full well they did) and he said yes and tried to explain why. But i just stopped him and said ” why would i pay for ads that i can already see for free?!
Told him to come back when they stopped showing ads. He didn’t want to take no for an answer so i said goodbye and shut the door in his face.
Nice work Falcodore! That is one of the main reasons why I don’t have pay TV.
It appears most of us here have the same negative view towards Channel 9 (and 7 and 10), and rightly so.
I’m Just wondering if Alborz or anyone at CA could pass these comments on to the programmers or senior management at 9, possibly David Gyngell himself. Then maybe, just maybe, they might get a clue! It would be nice if one commercial network could get it right.
I know its wishful thinking but, who knows…
Channel 9 dont care about a car entheauaist or a website representing car entheausiasts . they will get half a season out of the show in its new gutless family friendly format. People will switch off because it is so awful and starts 15 minutes late. Then Channel 9 will shunt it off to thursday nights at 11:30pm. Another failed “Aussie show” they will say, and then pat themselves on the back and fill the slot with more 2 and a half men
It will then be canned but no other network will have access for 3 years
Sounds about right Davie, unfortunately. But if channel 9 want to do the show, and their viewers justice, this is exactly the kind of forum they should be looking at.
I didn’t think Channel Nine had any automotive interest whatsoever.When they lost /gave up on F1 apparently some of the sports journos celebrated!They must’ve been cricket fans?
As for pay TV well thay can insert that idea ..um..sideways!!!
I bet channel 9 will take entourage of sbs soon aswell
Just heard channel nine are considering Doug Mulray / Shane Warne / James Morrison for the show. AWESOME NEWS!
Well, Doug Mulray was never one to hold back with his opinions and we know James Morrison can drive, so this lineup might actually be alright.