US cord-cutting options may get the most attention these days, but there are a growing number of cheap cable alternatives in Canada. Up until recently, Canada’s TV fans were restricted to on-demand streaming services, but 2024 brings with it exciting options like Stack TV and RiverTV, Canada’s first multichannel live TV streaming service. And recently, fubo acquired exclusive premier league rights in Canada, adding another exciting new cable alternative to the mix for sports fans.
Our top pick: fubo Canada
fubo has been a competitive cable alternative for U.S. sports fans, and recently, it announced that it acquired the exclusive rights to broadcast The Premier League in the Canada market for three seasons, starting in 2022/2023. While it’s not a complete cable alternative, we expect to see fubo expand their Canada plan soon. As of now, here are the highlights.
Currently, fubo Canada offers three plans, with all of them including Family Share:
- Entertainment: $14.99/month CAD
- 250-hour DVR for monthly plans
- 1000-hour DVR for quarterly plans
- DO NOT include soccer content
- Soccer: $24.99/month CAD
- 250-hour DVR
- Includes select English Premier League content
- EPL content in 4K/HDR for quarterly and annual plans
- Premium: $39.99/month CAD
- 1000-hour DVR
- Unlimited screens
- Select EPL content in 4K/HDR
As of writing, there are currently 65+ channels offered on fubo Canada. Check this page for updates to the list. Some examples of channels offered are: beIN Sports, CBC, fubo Movie Network Canada, fubo Sports Network, Law & Crime, MLB Network, OneSoccer, and Paramount Network.
With fubo, you can stream on pretty much any device including web browsers, iOS and Android, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV, and Chromecast, along with a few others. To check out the exhaustive list of supported devices, check out our fubo device support article.
Netflix is the reigning all-rounder
Netflix is an obvious and unavoidable addition to this list. Simply put, Netflix is completely owning the market for cable alternatives, including in Canada. Netflix is not only available in Canada at a low cost, Canadians actually get to enjoy many of the hit movies first before they hit the American Netflix library.
The Canadian Netflix library is also one of the largest in the world, with over 3,000 titles. This makes signing up for a Netflix account all the more attractive for Canadian users.
Netflix offers three plans:
- Standard with Ads: $5.99/month CAD
- Standard: $16.49/month CAD
- Premium: $20.99/month CAD
Users will find Netflix available on almost every type of device, including smart TVs, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, and most iOS and Android devices.
To learn more about all that Netflix has to offer, check out our full review.
CraveTV has the best variety
Canada’s alternative to Hulu, CraveTV offers tons of high-quality on-demand programming, namely from US networks like HBO and Starz, as well as a few live tv channels.
One of the key benefits to CraveTV is that the service allows you to browse their content before you buy. There’s a menu available on its site that makes browsing the content library easy, even without the subscription. This should help you make a better, more informed decision regarding whether CraveTV is the right service for you.
There are three plans to choose from with Crave TV:
- Basic with Ads: $9.99
- No simultaneous streams
- 720p quality
- Standard with Ads: $14.99
- 4 simultaneous streams
- 4K quality
- Premium: $19.99
- 4 simultaneous streams
- 4K quality
- Offline downloads
- Live channels
CraveTV is only available in Canada. You can watch using most iOS and Android devices, as well as through Chromecast, Apple TV, Xbox One, some Samsung Smart TVs, and on your computer through your web browser.
Amazon Prime Video is a cheaper Netflix alternative
If you’re thinking of getting an Amazon Prime account, you’ll be happy to know that the service includes Prime Video without any additional cost.
If you just want Prime Video by itself, it’ll cost $8.99/month, or $11.61 in CAD, giving you access to thousands of on-demand movies and TV shows.
Amazon has also been spending big to keep up with Netflix. You’ll find a large library of Amazon exclusives, including the award-winning series The Boys and Man in the High Castle. Beyond this, Amazon has a large number of hit movies available through Prime, and an even larger library of streaming content that you can purchase or rent.
You can now watch Prime Video on almost any device. Prime Video apps are available for iOS, Android, Roku, many smart TVs, and of course, Amazon Fire devices.
Prime Video
- On demand content
- Stream on three screens
$8.99/month
Paramount+ is a great smaller option
Paramount+ launched in the US and then expanded its service to Canada in 2018. It is currently available for $9.99 CAD with a 7 day free trial.
The bigger question with Paramount+ is whether the service can hold its own against Netflix Canada. The streamer’s catalog differs from its American content. This is similar to how Netflix operates, but Netflix has a much greater number of titles to choose from.
There’s still plenty to watch with Paramount+, though, including movies like Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Interstellar, and Mean Girls, and TV shows like CSI, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, and Big Brother Canada.
Paramount+ will be a very viable option for anyone in Canada looking to cut high cable subscription costs. Users can expect it to be available on most devices, including iOS, Android and mostly likely Amazon Fire TV.
Stack TV is a great secondary service for live TV
Stack TV is a great option for getting live TV without the hefty cable bill. If you are one of 2 million Canadian households with Amazon Prime you can add Stack TV for only $12.99 a month.
Better yet, you can try before you buy with a generous 30-day trial. If you don’t have Amazon Prime, you can get a 30-day free trial for that as well.
Global, Food Network Canada, HGTV Canada, Slice, HISTORY, W Network, Adult Swim, Showcase, National Geographic, Teletoon, Treehouse, and YTV are some of the great live TV channels available to Stack TV subscribers.
Sportsnet Now is best for Canadian sports fans
A product from Rogers, Sportsnet Now (SNNow) offers easy live sports streaming. The service offers three different packages to choose from:
- SN Now Standard: $19.99/mo or 179.99/year
- Over 300 NHL games to stream
- NBA, MLB, Curling, WNBA, FIBA, Summer League and more
- SN Now Premium: $34.99/mo or $249.99/year
- Over 1000 games
- Out-of-market game for every Canadian team
- NBA, MLB, Curling, WNBA, FIBA, Summer League and more
- W Network on SN Now: $14.99/mo
- Includes the WWE Network, RAW, SmackDown, NXT, live pay-per-views, and shows and documentaries
Find out what else each package has to offer.
Sportsnet Now boasts a variety of features with its streaming service. Subscribers in both plans can enjoy HD streaming, split-screen viewing, 24-hour “look-backs” for missed games, and on-demand streaming of Sportsnet programming.
Sportsnet Now is somewhat limited for those that want more U.S. sports content, so if you want access to that as well, check out DAZN instead.
The Sportsnet Now app is available on a large number of devices, including iOS, Android, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Playstation 4 and 5, and Xbox One.
DAZN has all the sports you could ask for
One of the newest sports streaming services around, DAZN (pronounced “Da Zone”) is only offered in a small handful of countries–including Canada.
DAZN is the same price as Sportsnet Now, coming in at $29.99 per month or $199.99 if you pay annually instead. With your subscription, you’ll get access to a multitude of sports including NFL Game Pass, MLB Network, soccer, tennis, rugby, basketball, motorsport, boxing, cricket, sailing, gymnastics, and more.
Should you decide to grab up a DAZN subscription, you can watch through multiple devices, including Android, iOS, several smart TV brands, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Chromecast, and Amazon Fire TV.
River TV is best for cable-free live TV
We’ve been following the worldwide cable-TV alternatives market for years. We’ve seen exciting changes in the market in the US, but the lack of multichannel live TV streaming service in Canada was particularly concerning.
RiverTV offers lightweight pricing compared to traditional cable and satellite TV options in Canada. You’ll get 43+ live and on-demand channels for just $16.99 per month. You can also choose between several add-on channels, including a $3.99 per month add-on package that includes movies from the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 2000s.
The best part about RiverTV may the lack of postal code restrictions. You can sign up for and watch RiverTV anywhere in Canada.
This channel package comes with some of the most popular cable TV channels available today. Access entertainment channels such as Lifetime, HGTV, National Geographic, History Channel, and Adult Swim, movie channels such as Rewind and Silver Screen, and a wide selection of news networks, including Euronews and Newsy.
RiverTV is currently the only service in Canada offering where you can find several US-based TV networks. Cheddar, Law & Crime, Newsmax TV, Newsy, Journey, Real Vision, Drink TV and Revolt are all available in Canada only through RiverTV.
Crackle is a great fee alternative
Unfortunately, good free options in Canada (as with elsewhere) are somewhat few and far between. Crackle is a Sony-owned online streaming website with a small library for TV shows and movies. Adweek called Crackle’s content library “mediocre” in 2010, but we found that times have changed. Although the service still has under 1,000 TV shows and movies available, it includes highly-rated content, all for free. Sony supports the service through ads inserted into all of the available content as well as some on-page ads.
You’ll find hit shows like 1990s sitcom Seinfeld available through this service, as well as top-rated movies like Stephen King’s It (the original, not the remake). Sony has a large list of partnerships with other content makers, including Disney, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, and anime company TOEI. These partnerships allow the service to offer more than just Sony-branded content.
Even though the service is free, you can find new, original content as well. As a free service, Crackle doesn’t have a large budget to produce original content at the same level as Netflix’s Stranger Things or Amazon Prime’s Man in the High Castle. Nevertheless, the fact that you can watch quality programming for free these days is pretty amazing in and of itself.
Many services force you to register for their free content, but not Crackle. You can go to the site and watch. Crackle will give you several bonus features, though, if you do register:
- Recommendations
- Favorites
- Pause and resume content across different devices
- Premiere alerts.
Crackle is available as an app on almost any device you might have, including Roku, Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, and most smart TVs.
Crackle
$0/month
Tubi is the best free service with variety
If you like Crackle, you’ll love Tubi TV. This streaming service follows a similar format to Crackle but offers a far larger library of content. The only difference is that most of Tubi TV’s library is B-level TV shows and movies. That said, the content library has over 300 titles that are rated “Fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes, making it a great source of both old and new(ish) content that you’ll definitely want to see.
Tubi TV
$0/month
Tablo is the best digital video recorder
Tablo is a digital video recorder that records and streams live, over-the-air channels to any device on your network. Tablo TV works by connecting the company’s device to your internet and an OTA antenna that can pick up broadcast signals. The Tablo device can then record those streams to its device, or allow you to watch those streams on almost any device that has an internet connection and the company’s app installed.
The benefit of this device is that you can access the app and content anywhere. This makes Tablo far more useful than many other OTA devices, freeing you up to watch your free content on multiple TVs without having to pay for separate DVRs or separate digital antennas.
According to Tablo, to make their system work you’ll need:
- An OTA HDTV antenna (available through the Tablo store)
- An internet connection
- A USB hard drive (required for watching live TV on some Tablo DVRs)
- A WiFi-enabled computer (Chrome/Safari browser) or a mobile device (iOS7+ or Android 4.1+)
It’s important to note that OTA content is limited. You won’t have access to the hit shows and movies that you might have through different cable-only subscriptions. However, OTA options are not only beaming in high quality, but the options are also increasing. We covered the growth broadcast channels last year, finding that there has been a notable resurgence in OTA options across the board.
Tablo will set you back around $130 for a one-time purchase of the hardware, after which everything else–including the app–is free. You can combine Tablo with free options like Crackle to enjoy both hit movies and TV shows for a lower cost than even half a year of a cable subscription.
The Tablo app is available for Android, iOS, Roku, LG Smart TVs, Nvidia Shield, Amazon Fire TV and more.
Our takeaway: Canada is growing fast
Do cheap cable alternatives in Canada exist? You bet! The options may be fewer than in other regions, but Canada is one of the fastest-growing areas for streaming services. Take a peek at a few of these cable alternatives and find out which one works best for you.
Desiree Wu • Author
Desiree is a full-time Honours Business Administration student at Ivey Business School at Western University. She also served as an Editorial Intern at Flixed. Desiree is based in London, Ontario.
Kelsey Reynolds • Editor
Kelsey is a content strategist based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Minnesota. Kelsey was drawn to working at Flixed because the team was so open, motivated, and curious. She most enjoys thinking about how to blend programmatic and editorial content to answer readers’ questions as completely and efficiently as possible. When she’s not at her computer, Kelsey can usually be found working in her garden or walking her two dogs in the park.
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