is a hybrid Canadian SVOD and pay-tv service owned by Bell Media. The service houses content seen on Bell's television networks, including programming acquired from the big three premium U.S networks, as well as Paramount's MTV and Comedy Central, all to which Bell Media has the exclusive Canadian rights. Essentially Crave can be seen as Canada's counterpart to Hulu.The TV network is descended from First Choice (renamed The Movie Network in 1993) and Superchannel (renamed Movie Central in 2001), two of Canada's original pay television networks, both launched in 1983. Both initially competed against each other as national services, but in 1984, they became sister channels, with First Choice serving areas east of the Ontario/Manitoba border and Superchannel serving points west. Movie Central was absorbed into The Movie Network in 2016.
The original CraveTV streaming service launched on December 11, 2014. At the time, CraveTV was only home to "off-net" HBO programming, meaning one would need a subscription to The Movie Network to watch current and recent HBO shows. Additionally, the service itself was originally exclusive to Bell cable/satellite subscribers, earning backlash from the likes of the Consumers' Association of Canada and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre among others. CraveTV wouldn't become available on a standalone basis until July 13, 2015. note
The point at which CraveTV began to grow the beard was when Showtime's current programming was moved exclusively to the service in 2016, even premiering day-and-date with Showtime in the U.S. Around this time, Letterkenny, Crave's first original series, began to grow in popularity and reception, in part due to reruns on The Comedy Network. In that same year, Bell Media acquired the rights to the current incarnation of Doctor Who and Star Trek: Discovery, which would premiere first on Space before debuting on Crave. In Fall 2018, CraveTV would add children's programming through its partnership with Wow! Unlimited Medianote .
Finally, on November 1, 2018, Bell Media merged CraveTV, The Movie Network, and its multiplex HBO Canada network, into "The All-New Crave". In practice, CraveTV and The Movie Network were rebranded as simply "Crave", with TMN's multiplex channels, acquired films, and current HBO programming being offered as an add-on to the baseline CraveTV subscription. Vice-versa, TMN subscribers on cable and satellite were given access to CraveTV's content without needing to pay an additional fee. Think HBO Nownote but with access to HBO's multiplex channels.
Earlier that year, Bell Media announced a rebrand of TMN Encore, The Movie Network's spinoff focused on vintage and contemporary movies, as a Canadian version of Starz. As such, the service was not included in the Crave merger, but quietly dropped the TMN branding from its name while still using its existing logo. In March 2019, Encore was relaunched as Starz, maintaining its previous format, but with the addition of Starz original programming not picked up by other networksnote . Starz Canada would also be made available as an add-on to Crave a week after its launch.
Their YouTube channel can be found here.
The French Canadian equivalent is Super Écran (formerly Premier Choix).
Original Programming
- Dark Side of the Ring (co-production with Vice)
- Letterkenny
- Shoresy
- Mike on Much in Conversation With... — An expanded version of the podcast hosted by producer Mike Veerman, Shane Cunningham, and Max Kerman of Arkells
