It’s the day every Top Gear fan around the world has been waiting for: Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May are back with auto-enthusiast series The Grand Tour! Currently, the show is only officially available to Amazon Prime Video customers in the US and other select markets. However, you can easily watch it in Australia right now via this entirely legal loophole.
The Grand Tour is a new motoring series for Amazon Video and the spiritual successor to Top Gear in all but name. In addition to featuring all three original presenters, it is produced by Andy Wilman who ran the BBC show during its heyday between 2002 and 2015. If you were a fan of Top Gear during its Jeremy Clarkson iteration, it’s safe to say that you’ll enjoy this show too.
Amazon just launched the series on its video streaming service Amazon Prime Video: which is not currently offered in Australia. The service is currently limited to customers in the US, UK, Germany, Austria, Japan and India – with blocks in place for other countries.
However, in an unusual turn of events, the company recently switched off its geo restrictions and opened subscriptions globally. This means you can access the show right now by subscribing to the US or UK version of the service.
To sign up, simply head to the US or UK version of Amazon, click on one of the ads for Prime membership and follow the prompts. (You can use your Australian address and credit card number and do not need a VPN.)
Currently, Amazon Prime Video membership costs costs £7.99 per month in the UK and $US10.99 per month in the US. This works out to $13.99 and $14.82, respectively. You can find out more about Australian Amazon Prime Video here.
Tell us what you think of the show in the comments!
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2 responses to “How To Watch The Grand Tour (AKA Top Gear 2.0) In Australia”
Or you can sign up for Amazon Prime Australia:
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/gadgets-on-the-go/amazon-prime-video-arrives-in-australia-just-in-time-for-the-grand-tour-20161117-gss34g.html
UPDATE: Amazon insists that it hasn’t “launched” Prime Video in Australia;
“We have not launched Amazon Prime in Australia. The service some Australians have signed-up for is the US or UK Prime Membership, which provides free, fast shipping within the US or UK, as well as access to some Amazon Originals, such as The Grand Tour, where we have the global rights.”
When asked how and why Australians are suddenly able to sign up for a US or UK Prime Membership and watch video, if the service hasn’t launched in Australia, the spokesperson helpfully replied;
“The service some Australians have signed-up for is the US or UK Prime Membership, which provides free, fast shipping within the US or UK, as well as access to some Amazon Originals, such as The Grand Tour, where we have the global rights.”
When pushed to actually answer the question; “The statement is all we have to share at this time.”