: a service providing noncommercial television programming (such as recent movies and entertainment specials) by means of a scrambled signal to subscribers who are provided with a decoder

called also pay television

compare pay-cable, subscription tv

Examples of pay-TV in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
While attorneys for Disney, Fox and WBD have pointed to an unsuccessful antitrust claim brought in 2011 by consumers alleging monopoly behavior by pay-TV operators (Brantley et. al v. NBCUniversal), Fubo maintains that the case is not helpful to the defense. Dade Hayes, Deadline, 5 Nov. 2024 Rival cable giants like Charter Communications and Comcast are also targeting pay-TV cord-cutters and cord nevers with new streaming TV offerings. Etan Vlessing, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Nov. 2024 The frightening concoction is the same for all legacy media companies that rely on traditional pay-TV for the bulk of their revenue: Cable subscribers are dropping by the millions each year, and streaming – as a replacement service – is either unprofitable or barely profitable. Alex Sherman, CNBC, 31 Oct. 2024 There has been speculation in the industry that a legacy company with cable channels could launch a rollup vehicle, something that could acquire other channels to build scale, giving it the ability to drive harder bargains with pay-TV providers and pursuing other options in streaming. Alex Weprin, The Hollywood Reporter, 31 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for pay-TV 

Word History

First Known Use

1954, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of pay-TV was in 1954

Dictionary Entries Near pay-TV

Cite this Entry

“Pay-TV.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pay-TV. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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