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Crave Basic Price Increase: What Changed in 2025 and What Free Access Includes

Crave Basic’s 2025 increase and Bell Media’s later free-account announcement were separate developments. Here are the dated prices, plan details and free-content scope.
From TheFinanceBase Team3 min to read

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Crave Basic rose in price in May 2025, before Bell Media announced a free registration option for selected CTV and Noovo programming. The price increase and free option were separate developments: the free account was not announced as a reason for the higher subscription price.

How much did Crave Basic go up?

MobileSyrup reported on June 5, 2025, that Crave Basic had increased from $9.99 to $11.99 per month and from $99.99 to $119.99 per year. The change had taken effect in May, and the outlet compared the new prices with archived pricing for the previous rates. Read the June 2025 report.

Those are historical prices, not a verified October 2026 checkout quote. Bell Media later said its entry paid plan started at $11.99 when it announced a broader Crave expansion on November 26, 2025; current prices and terms should be checked directly with Crave before subscribing.

What did the repriced Basic plan include?

In its June 2025 report, MobileSyrup described Basic as an ad-supported plan with two simultaneous streams and video up to 1080p. The report said offline downloads and live channels were not included. These details describe the plan at that time and should not be assumed to be universal current terms.

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Is there a free Crave plan, and what can you watch?

Bell Media later described free registration for selected CTV and Noovo programming, including CTV Movies and CTV Throwback, as part of its November 2025 service expansion. That free catalogue is not the full paid Crave offering. Bell Media’s expansion announcement sets out the selected free content.

The free option and the paid ad-supported tier are different choices: free registration provides access to selected programming, while the paid entry plan is a subscription. Bell Media called that paid plan Standard With Ads, formerly Basic. The announcement said plans started at $11.99 for Standard With Ads and $22 for Premium; those were announcement-era prices, not confirmed current rates.

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How the plan names and announcements fit together

Date What was announced or reported Source and qualification
June 8, 2023 Bell Media announced ad-supported Crave tiers, with prices to be announced at launch. Bell Media announcement
June 5, 2025 MobileSyrup reported Basic’s May price increase: $9.99 to $11.99 monthly and $99.99 to $119.99 annually. MobileSyrup report; previous prices were checked against archived pricing.
October 1, 2025 Bell Media announced Standard With Ads through Prime Video at $11.99 per month at launch. Bell Media announcement; launch-era price.
November 26, 2025 Bell Media referred to Standard With Ads as the former Basic tier, described selected free CTV and Noovo programming, and said plans started at $11.99 for Standard With Ads and $22 for Premium. Bell Media announcement; prices are dated to the announcement.

The chronology matters: the May increase was reported before the later free-account details and later naming context. The announcements do not establish that the free option caused the price increase.

Where could viewers subscribe or watch Crave?

Bell Media listed direct Crave access, apps and connected devices, consoles, Prime Video Channels, and participating TV providers as ways to access the service. A new device is not inherently required; availability depends on the platform and provider a viewer already uses. Bell Media’s November 2025 announcement lists distribution options.

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For platform-specific context, Bell Media announced Standard With Ads on Prime Video at $11.99 monthly at its October 2025 launch. Amazon’s March 6, 2024 announcement had listed Crave Premium on Prime Video Channels in Canada at $21.99 per month, an older launch-era price that should not be treated as current. Amazon Canada’s launch announcement.

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What changed in Crave’s catalogue in the later expansion?

Bell Media said in November 2025 that Crave had added more than 10,000 hours of content, that its portfolio had grown 30%, and that its library totalled more than 40,000 hours. These are Bell Media’s own catalogue figures, not independent measures of viewer usage or audience size. See the company’s announcement.

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Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

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