Days after it unveiled a $3.2 billion deal for CTV, phone giant Bell Canada on Monday extended its advance into digital video by launching is Internet-based TV offering Fibe TV.

Using Bell Lightbox as a backdrop for its announcement, Bell’s Internet protocol television (IPTV) service will initially launch in Toronto and Montréal in direct competition with cable rivals Rogers Communications and Quebecor Media.

“TV and movie lovers – prepare to be amazed,” Kevin Crull, Bell president of residential services, told a press conference timed to coincide with the Toronto International Film Festival.

Bell has been quietly rolling out the IPTV service, using its fibre optic network, since last spring, and now has around 50,000 subscribers.

Monday’s press conference at Bell Lightbox aimed to make the launch official, and public.

Crull forecasts Fibe TV will be available to a potential market of five million Canadian households by the end of 2015.

The new offering will comprise around 100 HD channels, in addition to more than 70 international channels, and theme packs.

Every standard definition channel will also come with an HD version at no extra charge to subscribers.

Bell Fibe TV service will build on the phone giant’s base with Bell TV, the direct-to-home satellite service, and gets it into competition with rival internet-based TV offerings like Telus TV.

Unlike satellite TV-based services, which requires external receivers, IPTV services come directly into homes online, and require a high-speed Internet access package.