CraveTV, Bell’s streaming service, launched last December by offering hundreds of TV shows and a small subset of movies for $4 per month. Bell has been quiet on performance of the service, but during its most recent earnings call, CEO George Cope claimed that his company has successfully signed up 730,000 users to the service.
Analysts were quick to point out that Dish Network’s Sling TV only managed to sign up 169,000 in its first quarter. Cope replied, “CraveTV has the content of both HBO and Showtime,” and noted that it’s “already a very competitive product. It’s not necessarily an apples for apples comparison, but at the same token I would think hitting 730,000-type levels is doing pretty darn well.”
CraveTV is currently available to Bell subscribers via set-top boxes, iOS or Android smartphones and tablets, the web, Apple TV, Chromecast, Microsoft Windows 8, Samsung Smart TVs, and is coming soon to Xbox game consoles.
In addition, Bell announced last month that it will make CraveTV available to all Canadians with an internet connection on January 1st, 2016, which should significantly boost potential subscribers. However, no indication if the price point will increase past $4 per month.
Yesterday, Bell reported its Q2 2015 financial results, stating that wireless revenues increased by 10 per cent over the same period last year, and that its total wireless subscriber base is now sitting at 8,124,824.
[source] Star [/source]
