pay TV

noun

ˈpā-ˈtē-ˈvē 

: 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

—often hyphenated when used attributively

a pay-TV operator

called also pay television

compare pay cable, subscription tv

Examples of pay TV in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But Fox News also is likely feeling the impact of the dwindling number of homes with subscriptions to pay TV, as consumers continue to abandon cable and satellite services for streaming, although CNN and MS NOW gained viewers despite the same trend. — Los Angeles Times, 2 Nov. 2026

To your point, YouTube TV is the fastest-growing pay TV distributor. — Nilay Patel, The Verge, 2 Nov. 2026

As elsewhere in the global industry the market share of Italian linear free and pay TV channel continues to fall as streaming platform grew to a 43 percent share in 2025. — Etan Vlessing, HollywoodReporter, 22 Oct. 2026

Over the last two years, no Spanish company has helped drive Spanish content onto the world stage more than Movistar Plus, the biggest Spanish pay TV/SVOD operator. — John Hopewell, Variety, 10 Oct. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1954, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for pay TV

• be
• bee
• bree
• cree
• fee
• flea
• flee
• free
• gee
• ghee
• glee
• he