pay television

noun

1. a commercial service that broadcasts or provides television programs to viewers who pay a monthly charge or a per-program fee.
2. the programming provided.

pay television

noun

1. See pay-per-view, free-to-air
   a system by which television programmes are transmitted in scrambled form, unintelligible except to those who have paid for descrambling equipment Also calledsubscription television Compare free-to-air pay-per-view

Word History and Origins

Origin of pay television¹

First recorded in 1955–60