Best TV Service Providers for 2025: Plans, Prices, and More

We’ve given Verizon Fios our trophy for the best TV provider out there in 2025. It’s hard to imagine a more comprehensive TV service, offering customers the highest channel counts of any provider at reasonable prices. Plus, Verizon Fios offers great signup deals with no pesky contracts or sneaky promo pricing.

But don’t just listen to us; listen to literally everyone in our 2025 TV Customer Satisfaction Survey. Verizon was consistently the highest-ranked provider in all but one category—that’s 19 first-place finishes out of 20. And in the highest overall satisfaction, Verizon scored ten whole points higher than the next individual provider. If that’s not total domination, I don’t know what is.

This trend continued across other national surveys. Verizon Fios TV was JD Power’s 2024 winner for satisfaction in the East Region, and had the highest satisfaction score overall for all traditional TV providers surveyed. In a similar survey done by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), Verizon Fios was also the highest-scoring overall subscription TV service, placing 5 points higher than the baseline for TV satisfaction.

Verizon’s guilty of that stuffing, but they also have the quality to back it up, offering all 35 of the most-watched channels in the U.S., according to Variety. Verizon also boasts a super low cost-per-channel—its The Most Fios TV plan ($139.00/mo., 425+ channels) costs just $0.33 a channel. That’s the lowest of all the traditional TV providers.

Here’s the long and short of it: If Verizon Fios was available near me, I’d get it in a heartbeat.

For the budget-conscious out there who still want their TV fill, Philo’s got you covered. Philo will provide channels like AMC, Discovery, Food Network, Hallmark Channel, HISTORY, Lifetime, Paramount, and more. Philo, as you can see from flicking through our Philo channel guide, leans heavily towards entertainment and lifestyle channels.

Beware, then, of Philo’s serious lack of local and sports channels—a plight shared by similarly affordable TV streamers like Spectrum TV Stream and Xfinity NOW TV. The local channels issue can be fixed with no problem with a one-time purchase of a cheap over-the-air antenna (OTA).

My parents hated the fact that their TV provider of choice, YouTube TV, doesn’t offer MeTV—a channel they watch often—so I sent them over to our OTA guide, and they found a great antenna that’ll provide ‘em with local channels forever, no subscription needed. We suggest Philo fans do the same.

DIRECTV STREAM doesn’t require a contract, although you can lock in your price ($74.99–$154.99/mo.) for two years with a 24-month agreement that comes with a DIRECTV streaming device. Unfortunately, that pricing remains pretty darn high. DIRECTV STREAM still has a solid channel count (90–185+), though, including over 30 (!) sports channels. “The nice thing about DIRECTV STREAM’s base prices is that they already include the Advanced Receiver Service Fee and Regional Sports Fee,” says CableTV.com Sports Editor Taylor Kujawa. “But you still pay a premium for that extensive sports lineup, so it’s really best for diehard fans who want the most comprehensive TV plan.”

We also appreciate DIRECTV STREAM’s user-friendly interface, making it super easy to adapt to for even die-hard traditional TV users. DIRECTV STREAM’s use of channel numbers is a huge plus in our book, helping keep things similar to traditional TV while still delivering a sleek live TV streaming experience. Customers agree: in our Live TV Streaming Customer Satisfaction Survey, 85% of DIRECTV STREAM subscribers said they were completely or very satisfied with the provider’s user experience.

If you have the money, DIRECTV STREAM is a reliable service that’ll provide sports lovers with nearly everything they could want from a TV provider. Our package of choice is CHOICE All Included ($79.99/mo., 125+ channels) with its RSN access and loads of essential sports channels for NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL games.

You might have noticed that YouTube TV has a high cost per channel ($0.83), but this isn’t a bad thing since live TV streaming services typically have leaner lineups stocked with popular channels. But while YouTube TV’s channel lineup has a higher concentration of popular channels, it is missing some networks, like A&E, Lifetime, and VICE. If those are must-have channels, check out our full guide to the Best Live TV Streaming Services to find a service with them.

If you’re not sure whether you’d prefer streaming TV over traditional TV, you may be able to snag a free trial of YouTube TV. We’ve seen free trials for as long as 21 days before, but YouTube TV’s not always offering one up. We suggest you check out our YouTube TV deals page to see what promos they’re slingin’ at the moment.

Duo Premium serves up both of these services—Hulu and Disney+—with no ads in sight for $19.99/mo.. Yes, that is relatively expensive, but with ad-free Hulu costing $18.99/mo. alone, it’s a bangin’ deal if you’re already going to be subscribing to both services.

The convenience of bundling multiple services in one package (with just one bill) is a huge plus in our book. Customers appreciate these bundle options, too, with Brendan W. from Florida remarking that “Hulu on demand has a far bigger catalog than I realized. Bundling it with Disney plus allowed very easy access.”

If you don’t want to fork over the hefty twenty bucks a month that Duo Premium will run you, Duo Basic is a great budget pick that also provides you with access to both Disney+ and Hulu—if you don’t mind the ads.

Xfinity made what felt like a total 180 in this year’s CableTV.com customer satisfaction survey, moving up the ranks and tying for second place among individual providers. Its satisfaction score this year was even higher than live TV streamers like Fubo. Xfinity also came in second nationally in JD Power’s survey. So, is cable back in the game? Well, that depends …

Cable TV is still in the game certainly, at least for now. We know that its popularity continues to decline with the ever-growing ubiquity—some may say oversaturation—of streaming services. However, plenty of people are still attached to the old cable dog. And we think, in 2025, Xfinity is the best of the best.

With low starting prices (Xfinity’s cheapest cable plan goes for as low as $50.00/mo. for 125+ channels in its West region) and wide availability, Xfinity can be a solid cable choice. Beware of its hidden fees and price hikes, though—those sneaky add-ons are part of what hindered Xfinity from being our best value TV provider. In our ideal TV world, providers would banish all second-year price hikes and broadcast TV fees from the kingdom (Verizon Fios has done this—we love you, Verizon). But alas.

I know that even as a cable TV user, people want the convenience of streaming their fave shows on the go. That’s why I love that the Xfinity Stream mobile app lets you stream your live TV channels, on-demand movies and shows, DVR recordings, and more. It’s one of the best mobile streaming experiences we’ve found from a traditional TV provider.

We recommend most everybody DISH’s America’s Top 200 plan ($106.99/mo., 240+ channels) because it has the most channels for the best price—$0.47 per channel is hard to beat. Add on top-notch parental controls thanks to DISH’s partnership with Common Sense Media, and you have a dual award winner.

We’d also name the DISH Hopper 3 ($10/mo.) as the best of the best DVR if we handed out that award. But really, it still is the cream of the crop. The Hopper 3 stores 500 HD hours, allows you to record up to 16 programs at once, supports 4K resolution, and includes the DISH Voice Remote. Although the Hopper 3 rocks our socks off (we’ve tested it for over three years), we hate that it comes at a monthly cost—one that can add up on top of DISH’s pricier plans.

DISH’s prices and reliability definitely bogged down its overall Customer Satisfaction Survey scores, but with a widely available service like satellite TV, we aren’t super surprised—satellite’s reliability is super susceptible to weather, with fiber or cable TV providing much more consistent performance for traditional TV customers. But, you can’t get fiber or cable in nearly as many areas in the U.S. as you can with satellite TV, so it’s a trade-off many folks have to make.

For four years running, DISH has also been named our best TV provider for kids. Families will love that DISH has the channels kids want from Disney, Nickelodeon, and local PBS affiliates. And parents will appreciate DISH’s excellent parental controls, created in partnership with Common Sense Media, which enable them to fine-tune the content their kids consume.

DIRECTV was only narrowly held off the top spot for best satellite provider by DISH. If you’re a sports fan, DIRECTV will probably knock DISH off its pedestal, with its wide array of sports channels and available add-ons (although we still prefer DIRECTV’s live TV streaming offering, DIRECTV STREAM).

If you have the money, DIRECTV is a reliable service with high customer satisfaction ratings—and the PREMIER All Included package ($164.99/mo., 340+ channels) has every single channel DIRECTV offers, including Max, Paramount+ with SHOWTIME, Cinemax, STARZ, and MGM+. That’s the package we’d get if we could afford it.

Even if you’re not going for the top package, I think DIRECTV consistently has the best deals of any TV provider (and I personally update all of our deals pages every month!). Promos vary month-to-month, but DIRECTV’s got some consistent ones that keep the pot super sweet for new customers, including three free months of Max, Paramount+ with SHOWTIME, STARZ, Cinemax, and MGM+. They’re also letting customers bow out of having local channels to save around $12 a month. (Still want local channels? Pay $20–$40 one time and have them forever with an OTA antenna.)

Want the low-down on every deal DIRECTV’s currently serving up? Check out our handy guide to DIRECTV-specific deals.