A new report claims that Apple was in the bidding war for Jeremy Clarkson's new show which Amazon ultimately won. Rival Netflix has also spoken out for the first time since the deal was announced.
Earlier this week, Variety reported that the iPhone maker has been holding talks with Hollywood executives to produce entertainment content. Allegedly, Apple wanted "to create development and production divisions that would churn out long-form content to stream in a bid to compete with Netflix."
A source told Variety that Apple even made a bid to secure Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond after they left "Top Gear" earlier this year.
In July, Amazon snapped up Jeremy Clarkson's new show in a deal reportedly worth £160 million ($250 million) - which translates to £4.4 million ($6.9 million) per episode.
But rival Netflix thinks the online retail giant paid too much for the former "Top Gear" team.
"We did have past episodes of 'Top Gear,' so we have a pretty good gauge of what audiences like," Netflix Chief Product Officer Neil Hunt told Digital Spy.
According to Hunt, the Los Gatos, Calif.-based online streaming giant base their purchases on the data they get.
"Clearly it wasn't worth the money to make the deal... I think they sold themselves for way more money [than they're worth]," he added.
The Amazon deal was preceded by months of speculation on who would get the "Top Gear" trio. As Franchise Herald reported then, Netflix was believed to be the frontrunner following a non-compete clause in the team's BBC contracts that effectively barred them from signing on ITV.
On one occasion, Clarkson even teased he was negotiating with "Californians." It should be noted that Amazon's headquarters is in Seattle, Wash.
Despite losing out to Amazon, Hunt said Netflix is unfazed by their rival's purchasing power.
"We're much bigger, so we have bigger cheques to write. There might be other people ranting, but we're still in a good place."
Amazon boss Jeff Bezos said earlier he's "very excited" for the yet-to-be-named Jeremy Clarkson's new show and said the former "Top Gear" team know their worth.
