Bell Launches Streaming Service…. Cord Cutters Need Not Apply

So, Bell clearly must have felt it had to get into the streaming game since Rogers and Shaw’s Shomi streaming service launched. So today they revealed CraveTV. Here’s the key things that you need to know:

  • It launches on December 11th.
  • It will cost $4 a month.
  • It will be available to the Bell’s existing TV subscribers plus those on TELUS and Eastlink.
  • It will be available on your TV or set top box, smart TV, smartphone or tablet, computer and coming soon to consoles such as Xbox.

Here’s the key point. CraveTV requires a cable TV subscription to access it. That means that ‘cord cutters’ won’t be able to access it. Clearly Bell doesn’t want to make money off of those users, and that’s remarkably short sighted. Shomi is also limited to Rogers and Shaw Internet and cable subscribers and that too is short sighted. But they’ve appeared to have hedged their bets by being open to the idea of opening the service to anyone with an Internet connection. If that happens, and that’s a big if, Bell’s service is dead on arrival. If it doesn’t, one wonders if either service will find an audience given that Netflix is available to anyone who has any sort of Internet connection.

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