Crave (originally CraveTV) is a Canadian subscription video on demand service owned by Bell Media.

At the same time, subscribers to the former TMN linear service began to receive access to the former CraveTV VOD library at no additional charge, when signed into the Crave streaming platform via TV Everywhere.

From November 1, 2018, to October 25, 2021, programming on the Crave streaming platform was divided between up to four packages: At some point following the launch of Netflix in Canada in 2010, several domestic media companies including the media divisions of Bell, Rogers, and Shaw, as well as cinema operator Cineplex, were reportedly in talks to launch a joint-venture Canadian streaming service.

[10][11][12] Shortly after the announcement of Shomi, on October 30, 2014, Bell Media revealed its own streaming and video-on-demand service focused on TV series programming, initially referring to it by the code name "Project Latte".

[13] Kevin Crull, president of Bell Media at the time, contended that television content on any streaming service "[would not] exist if you didn't have the traditional TV system.

[16] On July 13, 2015, Bell announced that CraveTV would transition to an over-the-top service available to all users, regardless of provider, in January 2016.

Bell Media head Randy Lennox cited increasing competition with Netflix as a basis for the decision.

[22][23] The following spring, a Canadian version of Starz (newly renamed from TMN Encore) was launched on the platform as a further add-on, with a direct-to-consumer monthly price of $5.99.

[25][26][27] On October 26, 2021, Bell Media announced that the previous entry-level programming package was being eliminated; all Crave subscribers would henceforth have access to the same library of programming (apart from Starz), with a new single-stream "Crave Mobile" plan offered at the $9.99 price point in place of the previous basic tier.

Although much of Crave's programming on its linear channels since fall 2019 has included described video (DV) when accessed through a TV provider set-top box under CRTC rules, support for DV in streaming video was not added until March 2022, when it began to be supported on Apple devices.

In October 2014, shortly before launch, Bell announced a deal with HBO to bring the U.S. service's "off-air" programming (i.e. series no longer in production), such as The Sopranos, Sex and the City, The Wire, Crashbox, and various older HBO-produced television films, documentaries, and stand-up comedy specials, to CraveTV.

On January 29, 2015, Bell announced a similar licensing deal with Showtime, which would see most of its off-air library added to CraveTV as well.

[44] Bell subsequently announced similar deals for subsequent Star Trek series, including Picard, Lower Decks, and Strange New Worlds, despite CBS All Access (now Paramount+), which streams all of the newer Star Trek series in the United States, having launched in Canada.

[48] The first anime title put on Crave as a result of this partnership, on September 18, 2020, was the Viz Media English dub of Sailor Moon;[49] it was removed from the platform three years later.

[50] In June 2019, Crave acquired streaming rights to the American and British versions of RuPaul's Drag Race, as part of a partnership with LGBT specialty network OutTV to co-commission a Canadian version of the franchise, Canada's Drag Race.

All HBO Max programs covered by the agreement are available on the Crave streaming platform, though some may also have linear airings on CTV or other Bell channels.

[54] In December 2022, Crave announced a reactivated deal with Sony Pictures for pay-1 rights to its theatrical releases beginning in April 2023, returning to the service after a stint on Amazon Prime Video from 2020 to 2022.

[citation needed] Nonetheless, Bell eventually registered CraveTV with the CRTC as a hybrid VOD service, and began to offer it on a standalone basis.

[66][67] This includes households – which totalled approximately 1.8 million in August 2020, according to CRTC records released in July 2021 – that receive this access as part of their subscription to the legacy Crave pay TV service.