Top Gear channel launches on YouTube
Click for the Top Gear channel welcome video on YouTube
Top Gear is easily the most popular car show in the world, and one of the most popular shows altogether. But since it doesn't reach every corner the globe, the daily miracle that is the internet fills in the gaps. The BBC's approach to the online airing of Top Gear episodes has been an ongoing saga, with the company initially ordering YouTube to take them down, then putting the episodes on their own site before striking a deal with YouTube to allow episodes to be shown on the popular online video portal. The latest chapter in the saga now has Top Gear launching its own YouTube channel, which has now gone live. The channel features a vast library of Top Gear segments, including car reviews celebrity interviews and of course the famous epic challenges. All in all some 30 new clips have been added, and the channel will also host viewer competitions for prizes and whatnot. The new channel could potentially also host episodes of the American and upcoming Australian versions of the series as well, but we'll have to wait and see on that one.
Follow the jump to watch a video of Top Gear magazine editor Michael Harvey introducing the new Top Gear channel (and instantly realize why he's not hosting the TV show), and click right here to jump to the Top Gear channel on YouTube.
[Source: Top Gear YouTube via FinalGear.com]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
fanbrain 2:12PM (8/21/2008)
It's about time.
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gearhead18 6:09PM (8/28/2008)
It seems this came a little to early. I mean they launched the channel and pulled all the other episodes so now we're missing a lot of top gear. All the challenges have been edited. Hopefully they start showing full episodes or I'm gonna feel strange without top gear
SPG 2:18PM (8/21/2008)
That sounds great, I've watched countless episodes on Youtube.
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BigMcLargeHuge 2:39PM (8/21/2008)
Risking employment by watching 20 times before going to work in the morning?
(1:26 in the video above) joking of course :)
sam 2:19PM (8/21/2008)
Woohoo!
Hopefully this will help to further expose the general population to the show as well as allowing people to post clips (legally) on their sites/blogs... hopefully.
http://www.samalamadingdong.com
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Zane 2:20PM (8/21/2008)
Bleh! They don't have full episodes on there. Oh well, back to Finalgear's torrents.
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Benfolio 2:55PM (8/21/2008)
They never did. Even the BBC's YouTube channel only showed segments.
Regular YouTube users have full episodes up (in 10min segments) and MOST of the current stuff is there. I've watched this entire season on YouTube, and all on Sunday night.
Pretty quick uploading.
b0nesc 2:56PM (8/21/2008)
They will never allow full episodes, so I don't even know what's the point of having a channel. You can get the full episode within hours of the broadcast either on Youtube or Finalgear so no need tfor them to bother.
Farris 3:20PM (8/21/2008)
Benfolio - I know that regular users have a 10 minute cap, but isn't there a way to apply for "Director" status on Youtube? Maybe the Top Gear channel can apply for and get that?
Benfolio 4:00PM (8/21/2008)
I.... don't know. Most of the programs I use to rip DVDs only allow 10 minute intervals anyways (damn freeware), so I never checked if I could upgrade my YouTube account.
Seminole 2:55PM (8/21/2008)
Woo-hoo!! One more thing to watch while I wait for Final Gear's full episodes to download.
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Golferal 3:22PM (8/21/2008)
Yay for the interwebz!
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VP 4:14PM (8/21/2008)
They need more clips. Why can't they just post full episodes on their site after it has been aired in the U.K?
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izzy 5:16PM (8/21/2008)
I just wish they would show what Jeremy Clarkson found when he went on the internet.
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nighttime 10:45PM (8/21/2008)
Just bring out a box set, it'll cost a fortune, but people WILL buy it.
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RLQ 3:54AM (8/22/2008)
Now I can breath easier.
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jeff 8:46AM (8/22/2008)
I think we killed the youtubes.
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catgirlshyla 9:47AM (8/22/2008)
Utter bollocks. No full clips of the races or challenges. I pretty much got frustrated and instead sought out Amateur WRC clips because I was so mad at the truncated clips.
Found some good footage from the 2007 WRC in Japan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rNkMYRMLyM
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