Pay television

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For other uses, see Pay television (disambiguation).

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Pay television or Premium Television refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by both analogue and digital cable and satellite, but also increasingly by digital terrestrial methods.

[edit] Pay-per-view ambiguities

Pay-per-view (PPV) services are similar to subscription-based pay TV services in that you must pay to have the broadcast decrypted for viewing, but usually only entail a one-off payment for a single or time-limited viewing.

[edit] Free-to-view ambiguties

"Free" variants are free-to-air (FTA) and free-to-view (FTV), however FTV services are normally encrypted and decryption cards either come as part of an initial subscription to a pay TV bouquet or can be purchased for a one-off cost.

Selective access of free content

FTA and FTV systems may still have selective access. ABC Asia-Pacific is one example. This channel's content is free-to-air but NRL games are encrypted.