Alright so Bell Media may have lost Warner Bros. Discovery content channels to Rogers, but it has secured extended rights to HBO for its Crave streaming service.
Just when we thought Rogers was the one to tout winning TV channels from Warner Bros. Discovery, Bell announced it has extended its partnership with the latter, ensuring that Crave will remain the exclusive home for HBO and Max content in Canada, for years to come.
Crave will hold onto popular HBO shows like The Last of Us, House of the Dragon, The White Lotus, Succession, and many others.
The deal also includes a commitment to co-produce new original Canadian content, with some Bell Media productions being licensed for international distribution on Warner Bros. Discovery platforms. French-language content will also be expanded for Bell platforms in Canada.
The partnership extends access to other major franchises, including the DC Universe, the Harry Potter series, and Warner Bros. films like Barbie and Dune. TV classics such as Friends and The Big Bang Theory will also remain.
Bell also said the Warner Bros. Discovery dispute has been resolved over Discovery-branded channels, with more info about changes to these channels to be shared soon.
The deal comes ahead of Crave’s 10th birthday in December. Today, Bell also launched a new ad campaign highlighting Crave, so get used to seeing more ads like the one depicted above.
When Crave launched back in 2014, it was available first on Bell Fibe TV, Bell Aliant FibreOP TV and cost $4 per month. The company hyped up “CraveTV” as it was known at the time, by unleashing six Canadians to try to watch TV for 91 hours straight to break a Guinness World Record, in downtown Toronto (which they did).
Want to see more of our stories on Google?
P.S. Want to keep this site truly independent? Support us by buying us a beer, treating us to a coffee, or shopping through Amazon here. Links in this post are affiliate links, so we earn a tiny commission at no charge to you. Thanks for supporting independent Canadian media!
Oh no, terrible news! The bit rate and quality of Crave is abysmally poor, especially for such high end content like HBO. They still don’t even support HDR or Atmos, and even 4K shows are virtually nonexistent. Crave is stuck in 2004. Can’t believe we are stuck with this ball and chain for even longer.
The most expensive streaming service with the worst quality in 2024. Soon Netflix, Disney and others will be as abismal as Crave, but only in Canada, thanks to the new streaming tax. At least their interface is based in 2024 and works, unlike crave. Garbage service
Yes quality of Crave is very disappointing, way behind the industry leaders. Barely 4K streaming and only certain content.