Bell Launches ‘Crave’: HBO, The Movie Network and CraveTV for $9.99 or $19.98

Back in September, Bell redesigned CraveTV, while also debuting a new URL crave.ca. Today, we know why the new URL was made, as Bell Media has launched Crave, which offers CraveTV, HBO Canada and The Movie Network content in one package, available directly to Canadians, without the need for a cable TV subscription.

Bell says the Crave is available today through cable providers, while the direct consumer offering on Crave.ca and iOS and Android will launch on November 5, 2018.

By November 15, users will be able to subscribe via the new Crave iOS app and on Apple TV, along with Xbox One, Samsung Smart TVs, Amazon Fire TV and all other partner platforms. The Crave iOS and Android apps will allow offline downloads.

Approximate amount of data used per bitrate for Crave, according to Bell. The best video quality so far is only 720p:

720p – 2.5GB/hour
540p – 1.1GB/hour
360p – 800MB/hour
240p – 320MB/hour

Crave will allow up to five devices registered to an account, while streaming is limited to two devices at a time.

“We’re excited to present one of the best entertainment offerings in North America, delivering thousands of hours of prestige programming at an unbeatable value,” said Randy Lennox, President, Bell Media, in an issued statement to iPhone in Canada. “Crave is immediately positioning itself as the leading option in Canada’s increasingly competitive streaming and SVOD market.”

Two Crave Packages Starting at $9.99 Per Month

There are two monthly Crave streaming packages available…

Crave for $9.99

• 11,000+ hours of content from Crave Originals, current SHOWTIME programming, “select” HBO library content with “select” previous seasons of current HBO hits, VICE programming, TV series, WOW! Unlimited Media kids programming and some more.

Other changes today include The Movie Network pay TV linear channels rebranded, now known as Crave 1, Crave 2, Crave 3, Crave 4, HBO Canada 1 and HBO Canada 2.

The Move Network Encore Pay TV channels are now known as Encore 1 and Encore 2. Starz is coming to Encore in 2019.

Today’s changes let former The Movie Network subscribers access content not previously available before, on Crave.ca.

As for TMN GO, it will be “decommissioned” and users will now access their on-demand content through Crave.ca with TV credentials or via the new Crave mobile app.

What do you think about this new Crave.ca launch?