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What cable actually costs you
IPTV and cable are usually compared on advertised prices, which is the one number that is never billed. Put your own figures in and the fees, the promotional cliff and the multi-year total come out.
Short answer
How much does cable TV really cost per year?
A cable package advertised at $70 per month bills roughly $6,300 over 5 years once equipment rental, the broadcast TV fee, the regional sports fee and the post-promotional increase are counted — against $4,200 implied by the advertisement alone. A licensed IPTV subscription over the same window is about $257, because there is no equipment to rent and no promotional rate to expire. The calculator below itemises all of it from your own bill.
Over 5 years
| Line item | Total |
|---|---|
| Advertised rate, promotional period$70.00/mo × 12 months | $840 |
| Fees the advertised rate excludesequipment, broadcast TV and regional sports — $15.00/mo × 12 months | $180 |
| After the promotion ends$110.00/mo billed × 48 months (fees already included) | $5,280 |
| What cable actually bills | $6,300 |
| What the advertisement impliesadvertised rate only, 60 months | $4,200 |
| Licensed IPTV, 12 months plan$4.29/mo × 60 months, nothing to rent | $257 |
Difference over 5 years
$6,043
The advertised price is 67% of what cable actually bills you over this window. The remaining 33% is the fees and the post-promotional increase — the part that is real money and never appears in the advertisement.
Methodology
How the number is built
Stated in full, because a calculator whose model is hidden is a marketing device rather than a reference.
Promotional period. The advertised rate is charged for the promotional months you enter, plus the monthly fees that rate excludes — equipment rental, the broadcast TV fee and the regional sports fee. These are separate line items on a real bill and none of them appears in the advertisement.
After the promotion. The post-promotional figure is treated as a bill, not a headline, so the fees are already inside it. Adding the fee line on top of it again would double-count roughly $720 across a five-year window — the exact error this tool exists to prevent rather than commit.
The IPTV side. Taken from the live NixaTV plan table, not typed in: $4.29 per month on the 12 months plan, divided across months of access rather than months billed. Nothing is rented, and there is no promotional rate to expire, so the monthly figure is flat for the whole window.
What the model deliberately excludes. Installation and activation one-offs, late fees, early-termination charges, taxes, and the cost of the internet connection — which you need either way, so counting it on one side only would be dishonest. Every one of those exclusions makes cable look cheaper here than it bills in practice.
Defaults. The starting figures are the ones published in our five-year cost guide: $70 advertised, $15 per month in fees, a 12-month promotional period and $110 billed thereafter. Replace them with your own bill — nothing is stored, and nothing is sent anywhere.
Use this, cite this
The calculator is free to use and free to reference. If it is useful to your readers, link to it — attribution to NixaTV (nixatv.live) is all that is asked, and the methodology above is stated precisely so the figures can be checked rather than trusted.