Top Gear episodes to be made available on Facebook

This article titled "Top Gear episodes to be made available on Facebook" was written by Mark Sweney, for guardian.co.uk on Tuesday 23rd August 2011 10.46 UTC

BBC Worldwide is make episodes of Top Gear available to Facebook users at a cost of 93p. 

The BBC's commercial arm has developed a video-on-demand app for Facebook that will allow users of the website to rent a limited number of Top Gear episodes using Facebook Credits. 

The corporation is initially offering three episodes – the Polar Special, US Road Trip and Vietnam Road Trip – at a cost of 15 Facebook Credits each, the equivalent of 93p. Once rented, episodes will be available to view for 48 hours. 

Facebook has about 700 million users globally, but the Top Gear episodes will only be made available for users in Europe, the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. 

"Top Gear has amassed a huge following on Facebook with almost 14 million friends following the brand itself and the Stig," said the show's managing director, Adam Waddell. "We're always looking at ways of adding value for the core fans of the show so it's entirely appropriate that we should be one of the first TV shows to make its premium content available via Facebook." 

Last month BBC Worldwide struck a similar deal with Facebook to allow fans to watch classic episodes of Doctor Who. 

On Monday Miramax unveiled a movie streaming service through Facebook at a cost of 30 Facebook Credits each. 

Last week FA Cup sponsor Budweiser brokered a deal with non-league teams Ascot United and Wembley FC to stream the opening game of the FA Cup live. 

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

• To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010

Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.