Project Latte, Bell’s set-top streaming service built to take on Rogers’ and Shaw’s Shomi and, to a lesser extent, Netflix, is set to debut tomorrow, December 3rd, under the moniker CraveTV.
Meant to showcase the best on-demand content from Bell’s media properties — CTV, MTV, TMN, HBO Canada — and its license partners, the service will be available as an add-on only to existing television customers across all providers. The strategy differs to Shomi, which requires a cable or internet subscription from Rogers or Shaw.
Bell will unveil CraveTV’s full lineup, and its price, at an event on Wednesday. While CraveTV will offer mobile apps at some point, like many streaming options available in Canada today it will require authentication to prove eligibility. Kevin Crull, Bell Media’s president, says that CraveTV will fit into a “white space” in the legacy television ecosystem, offering back seasons of popular shows that are not offered through cable or satellite video-on-demand.
CraveTV will offer unique programming like Seinfeld, Monty Python’s Flying Circus and CTV hits Saving Hope, Degrassi, Flashpoint, The Listener, Orphan Black and Motive, as well as HBO Canada’s entire back catalogue.
It will launch to TELUS Optik TV, Bell Fibe TV and Bell Aliant FibreOP subscribers at launch, and those customers can be on any package, including the most basic, to be eligible. Cravetv will also come to mobile devices, the web, consoles and select smart TVs later this year.
[source]Newswire, The Globe & Mail[/source]
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