Multichannel television in the United States

Multichannel television has been available in the United States since at least 1948. The U.S. is served by cable television systems, direct-broadcast satellite providers, and various other wireline video providers; among the largest television providers in the U.S. are YouTube TV, DirecTV, Altice USA, Charter Communications (through its Spectrum division, which also includes the former Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks systems), Comcast (through its Xfinity division), Dish Network, Verizon Communications (through its FiOS division), and Cox Communications. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 defines a multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) as "a person such as, but not limited to, a cable operator, a multichannel multipoint distribution service, a direct broadcast satellite service, or a television receive-only satellite program distributor, who makes available for purchase, by subscribers or customers, multiple channels of video programming", where a channel is defined as a "signaling path provided by a cable television system."

In 1975, the cable television industry had 9.8 million subscriptions across 71.1 million U.S. households (or approximately 14%), which grew to 19.2 million subscriptions across the 80.8 million households (or approximately 24%) by 1980. By 1988, cable television subscriptions grew to 45.7 million across 91.1 million households (or approximately 50%), while cable and satellite television subscriptions combined grew to 66.2 million across 99 million households (or approximately 67%) by 1995. While the number of cable television subscriptions began declining in 2001, combined cable and satellite subscriptions grew further to 90.5 million across 112 million households (or approximately 80%) by 2004, and combined subscriptions continued to grow to 95.5 million through 2007 after which combined subscriptions began falling during the Great Recession. Pew Research Center survey data has shown that the percentage of American adults reporting having a cable or satellite television subscription fell from 76% in 2015 to 56% in 2021, while 2025 survey data found that only 36% of American adults reported having a cable or satellite television subscription. Nielsen Media Research data showed that number the household MVPD subscription rate fell from 87% in 2015 to 47% by 2023.

While multichannel television initially served as a means to provide local television stations to customers who could not receive them over-the-air, in the 1980s and 1990s deployments of communications satellites made it financially feasible for channels of national interest such as superstations and other premium television to be distributed by cable providers, and eventually directly to viewers' home satellite receivers.

The market share of multichannel television began to erode in the mid-2010s due to the increasing popularity of subscription-based Internet video services, the increasing costs of cable and satellite services due to the carriage fees demanded by major channels, as well as consumers intentionally dropping traditional television service in favor of alternatives such as subscription video on demand (SVOD) services, and linear television services that are delivered entirely over the public internet, or never subscribing to such a service at all.