Here's the question most people searching "IPTV subscription" are really asking: if I spend this much a month, what do I get? So this guide is organised by budget rather than by brand. Pick your number, see which licensed services fit under it, and, just as useful, what each one leaves out.
Short answer: under $15 a month buys entertainment channels or one network's live feed, but no ESPN and no full set of local stations. Around $20-$45 buys either ESPN or a broad cable line-up, not both with locals. The first price that gets locals, ESPN and most cable channels together is YouTube TV at $82.99. Anything advertised as "every channel" for $10-$20 a month is skipping the licence fees that make up most of those figures.
At a glance
What your monthly budget buys
| $0 | Antenna locals + free streaming channels |
| About $10 | Family and classic TV (Frndly) |
| $20-$35 | ESPN, or news, or entertainment: pick one |
| $45-$65 | Broad cable channels; locals patchy |
| $83-$100 | Full cable replacement with locals and ESPN |
All prices are regular monthly rates before tax, taken from the services' own sign-up pages in the first week of October 2026 unless marked. Where a service leads with a cheaper first month, we show the price you'll pay from then on.
$0: antenna and free channels
What you get: your local ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and PBS stations free over the air with a $30-$60 indoor antenna, if you're within range of the transmitters. Add the free ad-supported apps, Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, Tubi, Samsung TV Plus and others, for hundreds of themed streaming channels: news simulcasts, old sitcoms, cooking, true crime.
What you miss: every cable network. No ESPN, no CNN or Fox News live, no HGTV, no regional sports.
Worth it if: your sport is the NFL on broadcast TV and your other viewing is on demand. Plenty of households live here and add one paid tier during football season.
About $10-$13
| Plan | Price | Screens | What it's for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frndly TV Basic | $8.99 | 1, SD only | Hallmark, family and lifestyle channels |
| Frndly TV Classic | $10.99 | 2 | Same, in HD |
| Frndly TV Premium | $12.99 | 4 | Same, more screens |
| Peacock Premium | $12.99 | Per Peacock terms | NBC programming, Sunday Night Football, Premier League, NBA |
What you miss: news, ESPN and most sport on Frndly; everything outside NBCUniversal on Peacock. Frndly Premium works out at about $3.25 per screen, which is the cheapest per-screen price of any licensed service.
Peacock isn't a live TV bundle, but at $12.99 since 17 September 2026 it's the cheapest licensed route to a big slice of NBC's live sport. Paired with an antenna, it's a surprisingly complete setup for some households.
$20-$40
This is the "choose one thing" band. Each plan here does a single job well.
| Plan | Price | The one job |
|---|---|---|
| Sling Essentials | $19.99 | The main ESPN channels, cheaply |
| Sling Select | $19.99 (more where locals are included) | News and general cable channels |
| Fox One | $19.99 | Your local FOX station, FS1, Fox News, Big Ten Network |
| Philo | About $25 | Entertainment and lifestyle cable, three screens, no sport |
| ESPN Unlimited | $31.99 | Every ESPN network plus ESPN+ events |
| Sling Essentials + Select | $34.99 | ESPN and news together |
| ESPN + Fox One bundle | $39.99 | Sport-first: ESPN plus FOX's NFL and college games |
What you miss: the full set of local stations (CBS and NBC especially), and in most cases either sport or entertainment. These plans work best stacked on an antenna.
Our pick at this budget: antenna plus Sling Essentials for the sports household, antenna plus Philo for everyone else. Both land under $30 with tax.
$45-$65
| Plan | Price | Locals | Screens |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sling Orange | $45.99 | No | 1 |
| Sling Blue | $45.99, about $50-$55 with locals | FOX/NBC/ABC in some markets | 3 |
| Sling Orange & Blue | $60.99, about $65-$70 with locals | Some markets | 4 |
| DirecTV MySports | $64.99 ($44.99 for the first six months) | Yes | Unlimited at home |
| Fubo Sports* | About $64.99 | Yes, most markets | Per Fubo terms |
*From published trackers, October 2026; Fubo's own plan page varies by ZIP code.
What you get: either a broad cable line-up (Sling) or a sports-focused package with locals (MySports, Fubo Sports). What you miss: Sling never carries CBS; the sports packages are light on entertainment.
DirecTV MySports' six-month introductory rate is the best value in this band for a football household. Just put the month-seven date in your calendar.
$83-$100
This is where "replace cable" actually happens: locals, ESPN, news and the main entertainment networks in one app.
| Plan | Price | Screens | Stands out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| YouTube TV | $82.99 | 3 | Best guide and unlimited DVR; 21-day trial for new users |
| Fubo Pro* | About $88.99 + regional sports fee | Up to 10 at home | Sports depth, regional networks in some areas |
| DirecTV Entertainment | $89.99 ($59.99 for 3 months) | Unlimited at home | Big households |
| DirecTV Choice | $94.99 | Unlimited at home | Adds regional sports networks |
| Hulu + Live TV (with ads) | $99.99 ($49.99 first month) | 2 | Includes Disney+ and Hulu's library |
What you miss: surprisingly little, though no single service carries every regional sports network, and Hulu's two-screen limit is tight for families.
Once tax and a $10 add-on such as YouTube TV's 4K Plus are counted, real bills in this band run $95-$110. Our real monthly total breakdown adds the internet and hardware too.
Over $100
Hulu + Live TV without ads ($109.99), DirecTV Ultimate ($129.99) and Premier ($159.99) and Fubo's upper tiers add premium movie channels, more sports networks and fewer adverts. They make sense for a specific reason, usually a regional sports network or premium channels you'd buy anyway, not as a default. If you're here because you want "everything", price the $83 tier plus the one or two extras you'll actually use first.
Every plan in one table
For the full list with trials, screens and intro terms, see our IPTV subscription service price list. The compact version, cheapest first:
| Monthly | Plan | Locals | ESPN | 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $8.99 | Frndly Basic | No | No | $108 |
| $19.99 | Sling Essentials | No | Yes | $240 |
| About $25 | Philo | No | No | About $300 |
| $31.99 | ESPN Unlimited | No | Yes | $384 |
| $45.99 | Sling Orange | No | Yes | $552 |
| $64.99 | DirecTV MySports | Yes | Yes | About $660 with intro |
| $82.99 | YouTube TV | Yes | Yes | $996 |
| $89.99 | DirecTV Entertainment | Yes | Yes | About $990 with intro |
| $99.99 | Hulu + Live TV | Yes | Yes | About $1,150 with intro |
Before tax. None of these has a contract, so a football-only household can halve most of the yearly figures by subscribing September to January. How these prices have climbed over the past few years is in our IPTV subscription price history.
Why "$15 for everything" doesn't add up
The top search results for "IPTV subscription" are mostly sellers offering 20,000 channels, every sports network and pay-per-view for $10-$20 a month, often with a discount for paying a year or more up front.
Look at the tables above and the problem is obvious. ESPN alone is $31.99 a month sold directly. A local-plus-cable package with ESPN starts at $82.99, and those services operate on thin margins because the networks take most of the money. A seller charging $15 for all of that plus every premium and international channel is not paying for any of it.
That has practical consequences rather than moral ones. Those services go dark after court orders and raids, usually mid-season. Annual plans aren't refunded when they do. And you've handed card details to a business with no address. If you want cheap, the honest version is the $0-$35 bands above, ideally with an antenna; our guide to legal live TV under $20 builds out those combinations.
Quick answers
How much does an IPTV subscription cost? Licensed live TV runs from $8.99 a month (Frndly TV Basic) to $159.99 (DirecTV Premier). A full package with local channels and ESPN starts at $82.99 with YouTube TV.
What's the cheapest IPTV subscription with ESPN? Sling Essentials at $19.99 a month carries the main ESPN channels. ESPN Unlimited at $31.99 adds every ESPN network and ESPN+ events.
What's the cheapest with local channels? DirecTV MySports at $44.99 a month for six months, then $64.99. At regular prices, YouTube TV at $82.99 is the cheapest full package with locals.
What can I get for under $30 a month? Frndly TV, Peacock Premium, Sling Essentials or Select, Fox One or Philo. Each covers one area well; pair with an antenna for local channels.
Are there yearly IPTV subscriptions that save money? Not for the big live TV bundles, which are month to month. Long prepaid plans are mainly a feature of unlicensed sellers.
Do these prices include tax? No. Many states and cities tax streaming, and Fubo adds a regional sports fee in some ZIP codes.
Can I pause or cancel? Yes. All the services above can be cancelled online, and some offer a pause. Our guide to pausing, cancelling or switching covers each one.
Prices, intro offers and local-channel surcharges change frequently and some vary by ZIP code. Figures are list prices before tax from official sign-up pages in early October 2026; Fubo figures are from published trackers. Twelve-month totals are rounded. Checked October 2026.