Market Watch — Who's actually winning in cable, satellite, and streaming
The headline numbers behind every TV provider you can subscribe to in the US. Quarter-over-quarter deltas. Real subscriber counts from public earnings disclosures. Type your ZIP for your local market.
📺 TV Providers — paid subscriber share
Cable, fiber, satellite, and Live TV streaming🎬 Streaming Apps — US paid subscribers
On-demand video servicesPicture Quality, Provider by Provider
Cable, fiber, satellite, and streaming — what reaches your screenBefore you read the chart — here's what actually matters
The resolution number on the box (1080i, 1080p, 4K) is not the same as the picture you see. How much data the provider sends for each channel matters more than the resolution label. A 1080i broadcast on Fios looks cleaner than a 1080p stream on YouTube TV because Fios sends more data per channel and doesn't compress as hard.
Three real things drive the picture quality on your TV: compression (how much the signal gets squeezed), bitrate (how much data each channel gets), and consistency (whether the picture holds up during peak hours, weather, or busy live games). The "Everyday picture quality" column below rates standard channels. The "4K live" column shows who actually delivers true 4K events — Fubo leads here, DirecTV is close behind. Everyone else is mostly 4K on demand only.
Want the engineering? We wrote the long-form insider's piece — compression algorithms, MVPD multiplexing, CDN peering, the 2014 Comcast/Netflix dispute, and how much "4K" is actually 4K. Sources cited throughout. Read: Signal distribution & compression — an insider's look →
| Provider | Resolution (standard channels) | 4K live | Everyday picture quality | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fiber TV | ||||
| Verizon Fios | 1080i | — | lowest compression of any major TV provider | Best everyday picture on standard channels |
| AT&T Fiber TV (DirecTV Stream on AT&T) | 1080i / 1080p | Premier tier | Fiber-grade picture with some 4K access | |
| Satellite TV | ||||
| DirecTV (satellite) | 1080i | ★ Native 4K | when weather is clear | Real 4K sports + rural addresses (3 full-time 4K channels + PPV events) |
| Dish Network | 1080i / 720p | PPV only | Hopper DVR & rural addresses | |
| Cable TV | ||||
| Xfinity | 1080i / 720p | — | Most channels, biggest footprint | |
| Spectrum | 1080i / 720p | — | Budget cable option | |
| Cox Communications | 1080i / 720p | — | Sports markets (AZ, San Diego, OK) | |
| Optimum (Altice) | 1080i / 720p | — | NY metro tri-state | |
| Streaming Live TV | ||||
| YouTube TV | 1080p (60fps on sports) | +$10/mo 4K Plus | internet-speed dependent | Sharpest 1080p streaming; 4K Plus tier covers select NFL + MLB |
| Hulu + Live TV | 1080p (60fps on sports) | — (no 4K live) | Bundled with Disney+ & ESPN+ | |
| DirecTV Stream | 1080p (60fps on sports) | Premier tier | Channel lineup closest to DirecTV satellite | |
| Fubo | 1080p (60fps on sports) | ★ Most 4K live sports | jumps to 4K HDR on supported events | Sports fans who want true 4K — most 4K live games of any streaming service |
| Sling TV | 720p / 1080p | — | Cheapest live TV option | |
| Philo | 720p | — | $28/mo entertainment-only (no sports) | |
Why each provider sits where it does
Verizon Fios — 1080i, Excellent
Fiber gives Fios the headroom to pass the network feed to your house with almost no additional compression beyond what the broadcaster already applied. Lowest compression among major US TV providers. Doesn't offer 4K live channels — but on standard HD broadcasts, nothing else looks as clean.
Fubo — 1080p baseline + real 4K live
Fubo delivers more native 4K live sports than any other streaming service — NFL games, MLS, Premier League, college football, FIFA World Cup events. When the source is broadcast in 4K, Fubo's 4K stream looks sharper than Fios 1080i on a big TV. For everyday channels, Fubo's 1080p stream sits in the same "Good" tier as YouTube TV and Hulu + Live — that's the trade-off.
DirecTV satellite — 1080i + native 4K channels
Three full-time 4K channels (Live 4K, Cinema 4K, Sports 4K) plus a couple hundred 4K events per year — NBA, MLB, golf, college football, NFL select games. In clear weather the picture is excellent. Weather sensitivity is the trade-off.
AT&T Fiber TV — 1080i / 1080p, Very Good
Same fiber advantage as Fios with slightly more compression on the same channels. Half-step below Fios on everyday picture, but offers some 4K on the Premier tier. Visible difference on dark scenes and fast motion; invisible on everyday content.
YouTube TV / Hulu + Live — 1080p, Good
Both stream at a higher pixel count than Fios — but use modern compression (H.264/HEVC) at variable bitrates much lower than cable's broadcast bitrates. Quality depends on your internet, your Wi-Fi, and how busy the servers are. During Thursday Night Football the bitrate is known to dip. Fios doesn't have that problem — bandwidth is reserved on the run.
Xfinity / Spectrum / Cox / Optimum — 1080i / 720p, Average
Cable providers cram hundreds of channels onto the same coax line that also carries your internet. To fit them all, they compress harder than fiber and drop some channels to 720p. Picture is fine on most channels and noticeably worse on sports and dark cinematic content where compression artifacts show up most.
Sling, Philo — 720p / 1080p, Average
Lower-cost streaming services use lower bitrates than YouTube TV or Hulu + Live to keep costs down. Fine for casual viewing, noticeably softer than fiber or cable on a big TV. Trade-off for the lower monthly price.
The bottom line: For everyday channels (news, prime-time TV, regular sports), Fios is the consistency king and AT&T Fiber + satellite are right behind. For true 4K live sports, Fubo and DirecTV satellite lead — Fubo has the most 4K live game coverage of any streaming service, period. Cable sits in the middle. Streaming is the right call if you'd trade a small quality drop for a much lower bill.
How we built this — and what the numbers actually mean
National subscriber counts are quoted directly from public sources — quarterly SEC filings, earnings press releases, and Leichtman Research Group's quarterly multichannel reports. We don't make up numbers.
"Your Market" figures use the Nielsen 210-DMA system (Designated Market Area). All 31,000+ US ZIPs map to one of those 210 markets. We model regional provider share by combining national counts with known provider footprint geography and Census household density. For example: Verizon Fios has zero presence in Arizona, so Phoenix's Fios share is zero — Cox dominates instead. We've curated the top 25 DMAs (covering ~60% of US households). ZIPs in smaller markets fall back to national averages with a clear note.
What about hybrid streaming-cable boxes (Xfinity Stream Box, Fios Stream, Spectrum TV Stream, Cox Contour Stream, Optimum Stream Box)? Good question. These are not a separate count — they're newer hardware shipped to existing cable customers by the same provider.
Comcast's 12.2M figure includes legacy X1 households, Xfinity Stream Box households, AND people using the Xfinity Stream app — all counted once as "Xfinity video subscribers" in the SEC filings. Same for every other cable/fiber/satellite provider.
Xumo (the JV that builds the Stream Box hardware) doesn't get a separate count either. Xumo's customers ARE Comcast / Charter / Cox / Optimum's customers — counted by their parent provider, not twice.
If you want to dig into the cable industry's pivot to hybrid hardware, our editorial piece "Cable's Quiet Comeback" covers the strategy behind it.
Why DMAs and not exact ZIP codes: No public source reports "X% of ZIP 20878 has Fios." That data only exists in paid Nielsen subscriptions. DMA-level is the most granular honest answer available, and a Fairfax-VA ZIP and a Bethesda-MD ZIP map to the same DMA anyway because that's how the underlying data is collected.
Refresh cadence: Quarterly, within 2 weeks of the major US carrier earnings releases.
Sources used for this snapshot:
- Comcast (Q1 2026 10-Q, May 2026) — Xfinity TV subscribers: 12.2M (down from 13.0M YoY)
- Charter Communications (Q1 2026 10-Q, Apr 2026) — Spectrum TV subscribers: 12.5M (down from 13.7M YoY)
- DirecTV (Q1 2026 earnings release, May 2026) — Total subscribers: 10.8M (down from 12.0M YoY)
- Dish Network (Q1 2026 10-Q, May 2026) — Dish + Sling subscribers: 6.9M
- Verizon (Q1 2026 10-Q, Apr 2026) — Fios Video subscribers: 2.7M
- Cox Communications (Cable TV Advertising Bureau Q1 2026) — Video subscribers: 2.4M (estimated)
- YouTube TV (Alphabet Q1 2026 earnings, Apr 2026) — Estimated subscribers: 9.0M
- Hulu + Live TV (Disney Q2 FY26 earnings, May 2026) — Subscribers: 4.4M
- Fubo (Q1 2026 10-Q, May 2026) — Total subscribers: 1.85M
- Leichtman Research Group — Quarterly Multichannel Industry Report (May 2026)
Last updated: May 28, 2026 (Q1 2026 earnings) · Next refresh: Aug 15, 2026
Q1 2026 cord-cutting snapshot
Traditional pay-TV (cable + satellite + telco-IPTV): ~49M US subscribers across the majors — Comcast 12.2M, Charter 12.5M, DirecTV 10.8M, Dish 6.9M, Verizon Fios 2.7M, Cox 2.4M, Optimum 1.9M. Down ~5M YoY.
Virtual MVPDs (live TV streaming): ~17.5M US subscribers — YouTube TV ~9.0M, Hulu+Live ~4.4M, Sling TV ~2.2M, Fubo ~1.85M.
Net market loss: ~2.5M US households left pay-TV in 12 months and did NOT replace with vMVPD — moved to antenna + on-demand streaming + free FAST channels.
Pricing context: the average legacy cable bill is now $169/month (Leichtman 2026 Q1 survey). Average YouTube TV bill is $82.99/mo. Switching saves ~$87/mo (vMVPD) or ~$140/mo (custom streaming stack).