Preview was an American subscription television service that launched in 1980. Like its competitors, such as ONTV and SelecTV, Preview was a scrambled UHF subscription channel requiring a special set-top box to decode the signal.

Preview's broadcast day was mainly between 7 p.m. and 5 a.m., but varied depending on the market and during later periods of the channel's existence. Owned by American Television and Communications (ATC), the cable division of Time, Inc., Preview was carried on several independent stations including WCLQ-TV (now Univision owned-and-operated station WQHS-DT) in Cleveland, WSMW-TV (now UniMás affiliate WUTF-TV) in the Boston area, and KTWS-TV (now MyNetworkTV owned-and-operated station KDFI) in Dallas. A fourth Preview-branded service, not owned by ATC, was carried by KDNL-TV in St. Louis (later a Fox affiliate, now an ABC affiliate).

The service offered movies, sporting events, and specials. The service also broadcast programming from ONTV and SelecTV, in some cases, simulcasting in areas where any of these services and Preview were available. Preview lasted until 1986, when the last affiliate, WSMW, discontinued carrying the service.

Preview was most successful in Boston, its first market, where subscription television programs began to air on WSMW on September 8, 1980. WSMW had to fight competition from StarCase on WQTV channel 68 and a perception that its transmitter in Worcester was weak.

Preview reaped a windfall in February 1983 when Star TV, the renamed StarCase, ceased operations; Preview bought the subscriber list and temporarily simulcast most of its programming on both channels 68 and 27 until it could switch Star TV subscribers to Preview equipment. Preview also progressively expanded its broadcast day; it moved up its start time two hours to 5 pm on March 1, 1983, over objections by the city of Worcester, which feared the loss of its commercial TV station to subscription programs. More Preview hours were freed up by 1984 when Nolanda Hill, the station's owner, axed most of its local programming in response to WSMW's insufficient studio space in Shrewsbury.

Over the course of 1985, Preview progressively cut back its hours until ceasing operations late in 1985. WSMW then relaunched as a general independent station, WHLL.

Preview debuted in Cleveland on March 7, 1981—four days after WCLQ-TV itself, which signed on March 3. It was able to obtain some rights to Cleveland Cavaliers NBA basketball during its operational period. However, as in other markets, Preview struggled. Cleveland's more affluent suburban areas were wired for cable much faster than anticipated, taking away a critical segment of Preview's potential customer base. While Preview Cleveland at its peak numbered nearly 40,000 subscribers, it had fallen to just 23,000 by mid-1983, prompting the STV service to close down effective August 31, 1983. Observers also cited poor marketing and customer service.

In Dallas, Preview entered one of the most competitive STV markets in the nation; at one point, Preview, ON TV and VEU all operated in the Metroplex.