Short answer: in the US, the IPTV providers that actually hold the rights to the channels they stream are a short list: YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, DIRECTV, Fubo, Sling TV, Philo and Frndly TV, plus the free ad-supported services. Monthly prices in October 2026 run from $8.99 to $159.99. The catch: the top "IPTV providers" lists on Google mostly rank resellers with no broadcast licence, so the comparison you actually need, licensed services side by side, is surprisingly hard to find. Here it is.
At a glance
Licensed US IPTV providers, October 2026
| Cheapest with locals | Sling Blue, $45.99 (select markets only) |
| Cheapest overall | Frndly TV, $8.99; free services at $0 |
| Most complete for the price | YouTube TV, $82.99 |
| Most screens | DIRECTV, unlimited streams |
| Missing from most lists | Every one of these |
The full comparison table
Every service below streams live channels over the internet under agreements with the networks. That's what IPTV is, whatever the marketing calls it. Prices are each provider's regular monthly rate as shown on its own site in early October 2026, before promotional discounts and before taxes or regional sports fees.
| Provider and plan | Price/mo | Channels | Locals | DVR | Screens |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YouTube TV Base | $82.99 | 100+ | ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC in most markets | Unlimited, kept 9 months | 3 (more with 4K Plus) |
| YouTube TV Sports + News | $71.99 | 50+ | Yes | Unlimited, 9 months | 3 |
| Hulu + Live TV | $99.99 | 100+ | Yes, varies by area | Unlimited, 9 months | 2 (add-on for more) |
| DIRECTV Entertainment | $89.99 | 90+ | Yes, where available | Unlimited cloud DVR | Unlimited |
| DIRECTV Choice | $94.99 | 125+ | Yes, plus regional sports | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Fubo Pro | about $80 to $85* | 200+ (incl. regional) | Most markets; no TNT/TBS | Cloud DVR included | Several at home |
| Sling Blue | $45.99 | About 40 | FOX, NBC, ABC in select markets | Basic DVR included | 3 |
| Sling Orange | $45.99 | About 30 | No (ABC only in a few markets) | Basic DVR included | 1 |
| Sling Orange & Blue | $60.99 | About 50 | Select markets | Basic DVR included | 4 |
| Philo Essential | $25 | 70+ | No | Unlimited, kept 1 year | 3 |
| Frndly TV Classic | $10.99 | 50+ | No | Unlimited, kept 3 months | 2 |
| Pluto TV, Tubi, The Roku Channel, Samsung TV Plus | $0 | Hundreds of FAST channels | Some local news feeds | No | Not limited in practice |
*Fubo shows its price after you enter a ZIP code, and published figures for Pro ranged from $79.99 to $84.99 during 2026. Channel counts are each provider's own claims; Sling counts are approximate and vary by market.
A few names you might expect are missing on purpose. Cable companies' own streaming apps, such as Spectrum TV or Xfinity's packages, are real licensed IPTV too, but they're tied to that company's internet service and priced by address, so they don't fit a national table. Our separate piece on which TV services depend on your address covers them.
How to read the table
The price column gets all the attention, but it's the least useful one on its own. A $25 service and an $83 service aren't the same product at different prices. They're different products.
Here's the split that matters. The four "full bundle" providers (YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, DIRECTV and Fubo) carry the broadcast networks, ESPN and the big cable channels together. Below them, Sling sells two halves of a bundle and lets you pick one or both. Philo and Frndly drop sports and locals entirely, which is exactly why they cost a third as much.
So start by crossing out rows, not comparing them. If you need live NFL on CBS and FOX, Philo and Frndly are gone. If four people watch at once, Sling Orange (one stream) is gone. Most households end up with two or three realistic rows, and the decision gets easy.
Channel counts are the next trap. Fubo's 200-plus includes regional sports networks you'll never see outside their area, and every bundle counts minor networks the same as ESPN. Check for the five or six channels you actually watch. Our guide to what "100+ channels" really means goes through that properly.
Local channels: the column that decides most choices
Local ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC affiliates are licensed market by market, which is why no provider can promise them everywhere. Before you pay for anything, put your ZIP code into each provider's channel lookup. All of them have one, and it takes a minute.
The patterns in 2026:
- YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV carry all four major networks in most of the country. Gaps are rare and usually in small markets.
- DIRECTV carries locals where available and has the widest regional sports network coverage, which is its main selling point.
- Fubo has locals in most areas but doesn't carry Warner Bros. Discovery's cable networks, so no TNT or TBS.
- Sling Blue gets FOX and NBC in some big cities, ABC in fewer. No CBS.
- Philo, Frndly and the free services have none. The free services do have some local news streams.
If locals are all you're missing, an indoor antenna does the job for a one-off $20 to $60 and adds no monthly fee. A $25 Philo plan plus an antenna is about the cheapest way to get both cable entertainment channels and the networks. Our article on why local channels are harder than they should be explains the licensing behind this.
DVR and screens: where the plans really differ
These two columns don't show up in most top-ranking lists, and they're where families get caught out.
DVR. "Unlimited" now means unlimited storage with an expiry date. YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV keep recordings for nine months, Philo for a year, Frndly Classic for three months. DIRECTV advertises unlimited cloud DVR. Sling includes a smaller basic allowance and sells more as an add-on, so if you record a lot, price that in. Some on-demand copies of recorded shows lock fast-forward; that's set by the network, not the provider.
Screens. This is the bigger difference:
| Streams at once | Providers |
|---|---|
| 1 | Sling Orange, Frndly Basic |
| 2 | Hulu + Live TV (base), Frndly Classic |
| 3 | YouTube TV, Sling Blue, Philo |
| 4 | Sling Orange & Blue, Frndly Premium |
| Unlimited | DIRECTV; YouTube TV and Hulu with paid add-ons |
A home with three TVs and two teenagers on phones can exceed YouTube TV's three-stream limit on a Sunday afternoon. That's when DIRECTV's unlimited streams start to justify its higher price, and when Hulu's two-screen base plan becomes the wrong pick even though its bundle is good.
What the price leaves out
The figure on the plan page is rarely what lands on your card. Three things push it up:
- Promotions ending. YouTube TV advertises $59.99 for the first two months, DIRECTV $59.99 for three, Hulu + Live TV $49.99 for one. Budget on the regular rate, because that's what month four costs.
- Regional sports fees and taxes. DIRECTV and Fubo can add a regional sports charge in some ZIP codes. Local streaming taxes apply in a growing number of cities.
- Add-ons. 4K, extra screens, extra DVR, Spanish networks ($14.99 on YouTube TV) and premium channels each add $5 to $20.
Also check what's bundled. Hulu + Live TV includes Disney+ and ESPN content in its price, and DIRECTV's Entertainment tier now includes ESPN Unlimited, which costs $31.99 a month on its own. If you were going to pay for those anyway, the "expensive" options look much cheaper.
Price rises are routine: most of these services have raised rates every year or two, usually with 30 days' notice by email. Note the date you signed up and look at the bill again each autumn, when many of the increases land.
The free providers: what $0 actually gets you
The bottom row of the table deserves more credit than it gets. Pluto TV, Tubi, The Roku Channel and Samsung TV Plus are licensed IPTV providers too. They stream hundreds of linear channels, paid for by ads, and they're legal for exactly the same reason YouTube TV is: the channel owners agreed to it.
What you get is mostly "FAST" channels: single-show channels (24-hour game shows, classic sitcoms, reality marathons), movie channels, and a growing number of news feeds from national outlets and some local stations. What you don't get is ESPN, the big cable networks live, or first-run network shows on the night they air.
For a lot of people the realistic setup is one paid service plus the free ones on the same device. Roku and Samsung TVs build their free channels straight into the home screen guide, so they sit alongside whatever you pay for. If you're cutting a bill, try a week on free services and an antenna before you pick a paid row. Our price ladder from $0 up walks through that order step by step.
Why the big "IPTV providers" lists look so different
Search "IPTV providers" and the top results list 13, 16 or 18 services you've never heard of, claiming 20,000 channels for $15 a month. None of the licensed providers in this table appear in most of them. Why?
Because those lists are mostly about unlicensed resellers: services that rebroadcast channels without paying for the rights. They're cheap for the same reason a fake watch is cheap. Even some of the ranking pages admit it in a disclaimer, and at least one current list still ranks a service it notes has shut down. That churn is the norm. Unlicensed services disappear after court orders and payment-processor bans, taking prepaid subscriptions with them.
The plain distinction:
- Licensed: the provider has agreements with the networks. It has a named company, app-store apps, normal card billing, a public price list and a refund policy.
- Unlicensed: no rights agreements. Typically sold through websites and messaging apps, often asks for crypto or gift cards, often requires sideloading a player, and won't say who owns it.
Plenty of legitimate player apps exist that simply play a playlist or login you already have from a licensed source. The player isn't the issue; where the channels come from is. For a longer look at who holds the rights, see IPTV providers and who owns the rights.
Picking one in five minutes
Answer four questions and the table does the rest.
- Do you need live sports beyond what's on network TV? Yes means a full bundle: YouTube TV for general use, DIRECTV for regional sports, Fubo if you want sports without the cable-news-and-TNT mix.
- Do you need local channels in the app? If an antenna works where you live, you may not. That opens Philo or Sling.
- How many people watch at once? More than three, and DIRECTV or a paid add-on is likely.
- Do you already pay for Disney+, Hulu or ESPN? Then Hulu + Live TV or DIRECTV may replace those bills, and their prices drop in real terms.
Our honest default for a typical household that wants "cable without cable": YouTube TV. It's not the cheapest, but it's the plan with the fewest surprises. For someone who mostly watches HGTV, Food Network and AMC, Philo at $25 is better value than anything else here, and there's no reason to pay three times as much for sports you won't watch.
Use the free trial, and set a reminder to cancel or keep before it ends. A trial weekend that includes the sport or show you care about tells you more than any list.
Quick answers
Which IPTV providers are legal in the US? The licensed live TV services: YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, DIRECTV, Fubo, Sling TV, Philo and Frndly TV, plus free services such as Pluto TV, Tubi, The Roku Channel and Samsung TV Plus. Cable companies' own streaming apps are licensed too.
What is the cheapest licensed IPTV provider? Frndly TV starts at $8.99 a month and Philo at $25. Both skip sports and local channels. The free ad-supported services cost nothing.
Which IPTV provider has the most channels? DIRECTV Premier lists 185+ channels at $159.99 a month, and Fubo's higher tiers claim more because they count regional sports networks. Channel counts matter less than whether your specific channels are included.
Which providers include local channels? YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV in most markets, DIRECTV and Fubo where available, and Sling Blue in select cities. Philo, Frndly and the free services do not. Check your ZIP code on each provider's site.
How many screens can I watch at once? It ranges from one stream on Sling Orange to unlimited on DIRECTV. YouTube TV allows three, Hulu + Live TV two, with paid add-ons for more.
Why don't the top IPTV provider lists mention YouTube TV or Sling? Most of them rank unlicensed resellers that rebroadcast channels without rights. Those services are cheap, often short-lived and can disappear with your prepaid subscription.
Do I need a special box for these providers? No. All of them have apps for Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, Google TV, most smart TVs, phones and browsers.
Live TV prices, channel line-ups and local-channel coverage change often, and promotional rates differ by ZIP code and month. Prices here are the regular monthly rates shown on each provider's site in early October 2026; confirm on the provider's site before you subscribe. Checked October 2026.