SailFinTV that pays its way. Here are the numbers.
Most of what a TV subscriber pays goes to programming, whoever your platform is. SailFin keeps its share small and predictable, so you can price competitively and still keep at least $5 per subscriber, every month.
Two ways to start
Bring your own programming agreements, or sell ours. Either way your customers get the same apps, guide, recordings and support.
Your own programming
For providers with their own NCTC membership and agreements.
You pay your programmers directly and keep full control of your lineup. SailFin is a platform fee per subscriber that gets cheaper as you grow.
- Your channels, your local stations, your lineup
- Your headend, or we encode your feeds at ours
- Platform fee from $7 down to $4 per subscriber
Sell our licensed lineup
For providers who want TV without signing programming agreements.
Offer our licensed lineup to your customers under your own name. Choose whether you bill your customers, or let us bill them and pay you every month.
- No programming contracts, no headend
- Launch in days, not months
- Earn $8.50 per subscriber with no billing at all
Three packages your customers understand
Prices shown are a suggested retail that leaves you at least $5 per subscriber, using a 300-subscriber provider on Path 1. Your own programming cost and price are yours to set.
Locals
Your local broadcast stations and community channels. The answer for homes where an antenna doesn't work.
- Channels in our example
- 19
- Typical programming cost
- $15 to $25
- SailFin platform fee
- $4 to $7
- You keep
- $5+
Essentials
Locals plus the cable networks people expect: news, movies, kids and lifestyle, without the national sports networks.
- Channels in our example
- 52
- Typical programming cost
- $50 to $55
- SailFin platform fee
- $4 to $7
- You keep
- $5+
Full
Everything in Essentials plus ESPN and ESPN2. The full cable lineup, on any screen.
- Channels in our example
- 54
- Typical programming cost
- $65 to $70
- SailFin platform fee
- $4 to $7
- You keep
- $5+
Typical programming costs are from a Wisconsin operator's 2026 rates. National network rates are similar for every member; local station fees are set market by market, so your Locals cost may differ. See the channels in each package.
What's in each package
This is the lineup we carry on our own service in southwest Wisconsin, used here as the example. Your lineup is yours to build from your market's stations and your programming agreements.
Locals
19 channels
Broadcast stations
- WKOW ABC
- WISC CBS
- WMTV NBC
- WMSN Fox
- The CW
- WKBT CBS
- WXOW ABC
- Iowa PBS
- PBS Kids
- PBS World
- PBS Create
Classic TV and more
- Cozi TV
- LAFF
- H&I
- MeTV Toons
- Catchy Comedy
- Dabl
- ANT TV
Community
- WICW.TV, our own local channel
Essentials
52 channels: everything in Locals, plus
News and weather
- CNN
- Fox News
- The Weather Channel
Entertainment
- USA
- TNT
- TBS
- Paramount Network
- A&E
- Lifetime
- History
- AMC
- BBC America
- IFC
- Sundance TV
- WE tv
- TV Land
- MTV
- VH1
- CMT
Lifestyle and factual
- Discovery
- TLC
- Animal Planet
- HGTV
- Food Network
- Travel Channel
- Hallmark Channel
- Hallmark Mystery
Kids and family
- Nickelodeon
- Disney Channel
- Freeform
Outdoors
- Pursuit
- EarthX
- YTA TV
Full
54 channels: everything in Essentials, plus
Sports
- ESPN
- ESPN2
Add-on
On any package
Premium
- HBO
Local stations shown are the Madison and La Crosse markets we serve; a provider elsewhere carries its own market's stations. HD versions are included at no extra cost.
Your local stations, handled with you
Customers want their local news and weather first. We help you get your market's stations on the air and keep them there, the same way we did for our own service.
The agreements
We help you identify the stations in your market, prepare the retransmission consent requests and work through the agreements with you. You sign them; we've been through it ourselves.
The signal
We survey off-air reception at your headend and set up the tuners, or arrange a direct feed from the station where it offers one. Then we bring each station into SailFin.
The guide
Your market's guide listings and channel numbers, set up so your locals land where your customers expect them.
Local hosted hardware: bringing your stations in takes an off-air receiver and an encoding server at your site, which push the channels to SailFin. Buy the kit from us, or source your own to our specification.
Your setup fee covers part of the retransmission work. Stations set their own retransmission fees.
Where each subscriber's dollar goes
Programming is about three-quarters of the price. SailFin is under a tenth of it. That's why the package you sell matters more than the platform you pick, and why we keep our part small.
Example: Path 1 at 300 subscribers (blended platform fee $6.75). Your costs are estimated at $3.50 per subscriber plus 5% of the price.
Path 1: platform fees
One per-subscriber fee, in tiers. Every subscriber pays the rate for the tier they fall in, so your average drops as you grow.
| Active TV subscribers | Per subscriber, per month |
|---|---|
| First 250 | $7.00 |
| 251 to 1,000 | $5.50 |
| Over 1,000 | $4.00 |
| Monthly minimum | $300 |
| One-time setup: headend connection, lineup, guide, your branding, and help with your local stations | $2,500 |
| Contract term | 12 months |
| Local hosted hardware (off-air receiver and encoding server) | From us, or your own |
Included: TV, phone and tablet apps with your name on them, the program guide, network DVR, local ad insertion, stream health monitoring, the admin, hosting and delivery, updates, and second-line support for your staff.
Path 2: sell our lineup
Two ways to be paid. Pick the one that fits how you run your business.
| We bill your customers | You bill your customers | |
|---|---|---|
| How it works | Customers sign up under your name; we handle billing and pay you every month | You bill your customers; we invoice you monthly |
| What you're paid or pay | We pay you $8.50 per subscriber, every month | You pay programming at our cost, shown on your invoice, plus $7 per subscriber |
| Retail price | Locals $39.99 · Essentials $74.99 · Full $89.99 | Yours to set. Suggested: Locals $35.99 · Essentials $72.99 · Full $87.99 |
| Card fees and bad debt | Ours | Yours |
| You keep after support and marketing | About $5.00 per subscriber | About $5 to $6 per subscriber at the suggested prices |
| Best for | Providers who want TV on the menu with no billing work | Providers who want TV on one bill with internet and phone |
Our licensed lineup includes the local stations for our market. Outside it, we help you add your own market's stations.
Run your numbers
Choose a path and a package, set your subscriber count and price, and see what you keep.
Estimates only, before sales tax and franchise fees, which pass through to your customers. Local ad sales would add to these figures.
How that compares
Your customers are comparing you with the national streaming services. Essentials comes in under all of them; Full sits right alongside, with a local company behind it.
| Service | Monthly price |
|---|---|
| Sling Orange + Blue | $60.99 |
| Your Essentials package | $71.99 |
| YouTube TV | $82.99 |
| Your Full package | $87.99 |
| Fubo Pro (plus a regional sports fee) | $88.99 |
| Hulu + Live TV | $89.99 |
| DIRECTV Choice | $94.99 |
National service prices as published in January 2026; they change, usually once a year.
Questions providers ask
- Do I need an NCTC membership?
- Only for Path 1. Path 2 runs on our programming agreements, so you can offer TV without signing any.
- Can I bundle TV with internet?
- Yes. On Path 1 and on Path 2 when you bill, TV goes on the same bill as your internet and phone. Many providers discount the bundle and recover it in lower churn.
- Can I carry my local TV stations?
- Yes, and we help you do it. Your market's stations come in off-air at your headend or by direct feed from the station, and we help you put the retransmission agreements in place with each station. How it works.
- Who answers my customers' calls?
- Your team handles first-line questions with the admin and guides we provide. We back you up on anything technical.
- What do my customers watch on?
- Google TV and Android TV devices, Android phones and tablets, and set-top boxes. More devices are on the roadmap.
- Can TV make money beyond subscriptions?
- Yes. SailFin inserts local ads in the networks' local breaks, for your own services or for paid spots from local businesses. Every $1 of ad revenue per subscriber is $1 more you keep.
Let's look at your numbers together
Tell us your subscriber count, your headend and whether you have programming agreements. We'll send a quote in plain numbers and show you the platform on a live service.