Short answer: in the US, the companies that were called "IPTV service providers" in the first place are the internet companies: Verizon with Fios TV, Comcast with Xfinity, Charter with Spectrum, and Cox with Contour. AT&T used to be one too, but it no longer sells TV at all. In 2026 their TV plans run from about $20 (with their internet) to $150-plus a month, and the surprise is that a couple of them, Spectrum especially, now throw in streaming apps that can make the bundle cheaper than buying YouTube TV and the apps separately. The catch is the fees, which can add $15 to $30 a month to the advertised price.
At a glance
ISP TV providers in 2026
| Verizon Fios TV | From about $79; full lineup $149 |
| Xfinity TV | From about $65; Now TV $20 for internet customers |
| Spectrum TV | About $100-$115, with ad-supported apps included |
| Cox Contour | TV Lite $20 with internet; Contour from $80 |
| AT&T | Internet only now; no TV of its own |
Where the term came from
Before YouTube TV and Sling existed, "IPTV service provider" was an industry label for phone companies that had started delivering TV down their own broadband lines. AT&T's U-verse TV, launched in 2006, was the textbook example: every channel arrived as an internet-protocol stream to a box under the TV. Verizon's Fios TV arrived around the same time over fibre, although most of its live channels actually travelled on a separate cable-style signal on the same fibre, with IP used for the guide and on-demand.
Cable companies took a different route, then converged. Today Xfinity, Spectrum and Cox increasingly deliver TV as an app on a small streaming box (Comcast and Charter's joint venture, Xumo, makes the box for both), or straight to apps on your Roku, Apple TV or smart TV. In practice, nearly all pay TV is now IPTV in the technical sense. The difference that matters is who sells it to you and how it's billed.
That gives you two kinds of licensed provider: your internet company, which sells TV alongside the connection, and standalone streaming services like YouTube TV, which you can use on anyone's internet. This page is about the first kind. If you want the second, start with our live TV streaming comparison. And if what you've seen advertised is a $15 "IPTV provider" with 20,000 channels, that's a third thing entirely, covered in how to find and verify an IPTV provider.
The five, side by side
Published prices from the providers and price trackers between February and October 2026, before tax and fees. Availability, plan names and prices vary by address, and all of these companies run local promotions, so treat this as a starting map, not a quote.
| Provider | Where | TV plans (list) | How you watch | Contract |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Verizon Fios TV | Parts of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic | About $79 to $149 | Fios set-top box, Fios TV app | Month to month |
| Xfinity (Comcast) | Large parts of the East, Midwest, South and West | About $65 to $135; Now TV $20 | X1 or Xumo box, Xfinity Stream app | Monthly, with optional price locks |
| Spectrum (Charter) | 41 states, strongest in the Midwest, Southeast, NY and California | About $45 streaming tier; $100 to $160 full plans | Xumo box, Spectrum TV app | 12-month promo pricing on main plans |
| Cox | Parts of 18 states, including Arizona, Virginia, Louisiana | TV Lite $20 with internet; Contour $80 to $184 | Contour box or Xumo box, Contour app | Month to month, two-year price locks |
| AT&T | 21 states for fibre internet | None of its own | Bring a streaming service | n/a |
Two broader points before the detail. First, the only way to know which of these you can get is to enter your address on the provider's site; most homes have one cable company and, at best, one fibre company. Second, none of them is the cheapest way to watch live TV. What they offer is one bill, one box and, increasingly, bundled apps.
Verizon Fios TV
Fios TV is the closest thing left to the original telco IPTV model: Verizon's own fibre, Verizon's own box, and a full cable-style lineup. Published 2026 tiers run from a local-channels plan around $79 up through Your Fios TV (about $105, 125-plus channels), More Fios TV (about $129) and The Most Fios TV (about $149, 425-plus channels with some premium channels included).
Things to know: plans are month to month, but professional installation has been quoted at $99, extra set-top boxes are rented monthly, and the advertised price typically assumes autopay and paperless billing. Verizon has also leaned into reselling streaming: Fios customers are steered toward YouTube TV and Verizon's streaming bundles as a cheaper alternative to its own TV, which tells you something about where the company thinks TV is heading.
Best for: households already on Fios internet who want a traditional guide, lots of channels and a box that just works, and who'll actually watch The Most's premium channels.
Xfinity
Comcast has reshuffled its TV range more than anyone in the last two years. In early 2026 the published ladder ran roughly from TV Core (about $65) through Sports & News TV (about $90) to TV Premium (about $135), with optional multi-year price locks that cost slightly more per month in exchange for a fixed rate.
The more interesting products sit at the bottom. Now TV, about $20 a month, is a slim NBCUniversal-heavy streaming package sold only to Xfinity internet customers; we mentioned it in our cheap live TV guide for that reason. Xfinity also sells discounted bundles of on-demand streaming apps to its internet customers. Neither is a cable replacement, but both are cheaper than any full live TV service.
Watching is either on an X1 or Xumo box or through the Xfinity Stream app on Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV and Samsung and LG TVs. Lineups and fees vary by market more than most, so check the channel list at your address rather than relying on a national summary.
Best for: Xfinity internet customers who want a few NBC-family channels cheaply, or who value a locked price for several years.
Spectrum
Spectrum made the boldest change. Starting in 2024 and expanding since, its main TV plans have included ad-supported versions of a long list of streaming services at no extra charge. As listed in autumn 2026, the core Spectrum TV plan (around $100 promotional for 12 months, roughly $115 standard) includes ad-supported Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max, Peacock, Paramount+, AMC+ and ViX, plus ESPN's streaming tier and Fox One. That's a lot of apps most households would otherwise pay for one by one.
At the bottom there's a streaming-only tier around $45 for about 85 channels, and above the core plan, bigger tiers run up to around $160. Equipment is a Xumo Stream Box at no extra charge, or the Spectrum TV app on your own devices.
The catch is Spectrum's broadcast TV surcharge, listed at up to about $16 a month on top of the plan, and the jump from promotional to standard pricing after year one. Put both in your sums.
Best for: homes in Spectrum territory that already pay for three or more of the bundled apps. For them, it can beat a streaming-only setup on total monthly cost.
Cox and AT&T
Cox sells Contour TV in tiers published at roughly $80 (Starter, 75-plus channels), $140 (Preferred) and $184 (Ultimate), month to month with a two-year price lock. Its cheapest option, Cox TV Lite at about $20, is only available with Cox internet and works much like Xfinity's Now TV: a short channel list for people who mainly want a few cable networks. Contour runs on Cox's own box or on a Xumo box, and the Contour app works on major streaming devices.
AT&T is the provider people still search for and can no longer buy TV from. It stopped selling U-verse TV to new customers in 2019, spun DirecTV off in 2021 and sold its remaining DirecTV stake in 2025. If you have AT&T Fiber, you bring your own TV: a streaming service, DirecTV's streaming product, or an antenna for local channels. Legacy U-verse TV customers have been moved off the service over several years; if you're one of them, AT&T's own account pages are the only reliable guide to what happens next.
The fee stack nobody advertises
This is where ISP TV and streaming really differ. Streaming services mostly charge one price plus tax. Cable and telco TV usually layers fees on top of the plan price.
| Fee | Typical size | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Broadcast TV fee | Roughly $10 to $25/mo | Passes on what local stations charge for carriage |
| Regional sports fee | $0 to $20/mo by ZIP code | Charged where a regional sports network is carried |
| Box rental | $0 to $15 per extra TV | First box is often free; additional ones aren't |
| DVR upgrades | About $10 to $30/mo | More recording hours than the base allowance |
| Installation | $0 self-install to about $100 | Professional setup, one-off |
Federal "all-in" pricing rules adopted in 2024 were meant to make cable and satellite companies advertise the total including these charges, but how fully they're applied has been in flux. Our advice is simpler than the regulation: ask for the full monthly total, including fees, box rental and tax, and get it in writing or in the online checkout before you agree.
ISP bundle vs standalone streaming
Here's a rough monthly comparison for a household that wants locals, mainstream cable channels and a couple of on-demand apps. Figures are list prices from 2026 and approximate fees; your address will change them.
| Setup | Approx. monthly | What tips it |
|---|---|---|
| Spectrum core TV plan + broadcast fee | $115 to $130 after promo | Includes eight-plus ad-supported apps |
| YouTube TV Full Plan + Disney+/Hulu + HBO Max + Peacock (with ads) | About $115 to $125 | Works on any internet; unlimited DVR |
| Fios Your Fios TV + one extra box | About $120 to $135 with fees | Traditional box and guide |
| YouTube TV Entertainment Plan alone | $54.99 | Locals and cable shows, no bundled apps |
| Xfinity or Cox internet + Now TV / TV Lite + antenna | About $20 plus antenna | Cheapest, narrowest |
The pattern: if you'd use the bundled apps, Spectrum's plan is competitive with a streaming stack. If you wouldn't, a standalone service is usually $30 to $60 a month cheaper than any full ISP TV plan, and you can take it with you if you change internet provider. For the broader trade-offs, our IPTV vs cable comparison runs the numbers over a year.
When the ISP bundle wins: you want one bill and one support line; an older relative needs a familiar remote and guide; your internet provider discounts internet when you add TV; or you live somewhere a standalone service lacks your regional sports network. When it loses: you move often, you dislike promotional pricing that steps up after 12 or 24 months, or you only need a handful of channels.
Either way, every option on this page is licensed. Your internet company is never the one selling "all channels for $15"; if a seller claims to be affiliated with Verizon, Comcast or Spectrum and wants payment by gift card or app transfer, it isn't.
Quick answers
Who are the main IPTV service providers in the US? Among internet companies: Verizon Fios TV, Xfinity, Spectrum and Cox. Among standalone services: YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, DirecTV, Sling, Fubo and Philo.
Does AT&T still offer TV? No. AT&T stopped selling U-verse TV to new customers in 2019 and sold its remaining stake in DirecTV in 2025. It sells internet; you add your own TV service.
Is Fios TV real IPTV? Partly. Fios uses fibre and IP for the guide and on-demand, but many live channels have historically travelled on a separate cable-style signal on the same fibre. To you it behaves like any pay TV box.
Which ISP TV plan includes streaming apps? Spectrum's main TV plans include ad-supported Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max, Peacock, Paramount+ and others at no extra charge, as listed in autumn 2026.
What's the cheapest TV from an internet provider? Xfinity's Now TV and Cox TV Lite, both about $20 a month and both only for that company's internet customers.
Are ISP TV bundles cheaper than streaming? Usually not. They can be if you'd otherwise pay for several streaming apps that the bundle includes, as with Spectrum.
Do I need my ISP's TV to use YouTube TV or Sling? No. Standalone streaming services work on any broadband connection.
Plans, prices and fees vary by address and change often; promotional pricing usually steps up after 12 or 24 months. Figures here are published list prices from early to autumn 2026 and are approximate. Confirm the full monthly total with the provider before ordering. Checked October 2026.