The BBC has pulled a rather sinister rabbit out of its hat when it announced the decision to enforce a clause in its contractual bindings to the former presenters of Top Gear. They can’t work for ITV until 2017!
In other words, the BBC says each of the three presenters agreed not to appear on any major British TV network for two years in order to create a rival show (they can do non-motoring-related shows, though). This makes the possibility of them signing with an internet-based network, such as Netflix or Amazon Prime much more likely.
The stake is huge and it’s understandable why the BBC would want to prevent rival local networks from hiring the trio – the last episode they aired on BBC2 was watched by nearly six million people; see the final farewell in the video below.
Top Gear was also nominated for best entertainment show at the 2015 TV Choice Awards, according to the Daily Mail.