Stream Showtime: It’s not just for cable anymore

Gone are the days when you had to have cable or a dish to get Showtime. The premium cable channel and cable series leader is following up on HBO’s lead and finding more ways to stream Showtime and get their channel into your living room. Cable companies used to have a monopoly on premium cable channels, but times are changing. Showtime is making their channel available in apps in six formats; Amazon, Andorid, Apple, Hulu, Playstation Vue, and Roku. Not all devices are compatible, so see our list below. If you don’t have a player or one that is compatible you can still watch on the Web at showtime.com or through PlayStation’s Vue TV service. Showtime is providing a generous 30 day free membership for most options to entice a new audience. Amazon Prime and Hulu pay members will have to make due with a free 7 day trial. After the free trial ends the cost will be $11 a month. Subscribers to Hulu’s $8 a month service, Amazon Prime, and Playstation Plus members (through PlayStation Vue) will be able to add Showtime for only $9 a month.  Compare those subscription prices vs HBO Now’s $15 a month and you have quite a bargain.

What you will be able to see with Stream Showtime

Showtime advertises their cable drama series as it’s main draw. After all, you can probably get movies almost anywhere, but their series have been locked down like no other. Amazon has a deal with HBO providing most of the series through the Amazon Prime membership, but if you are a fan of Homeland or the Affair you are now in luck. Even classic series like Dexter and Nurse Jackie are still available to binge watch if you haven’t seen them or want to watch them over again.

Showtime’s streaming service will provide the east coast and west coast channels live and a huge on-demand catalog of movies and original tv series, comedy specials, sports and more. There won’t be any annoying delay watching your shows as all on-demand programming will appear at the same time as it airs on TV. Once you have a Showtime subscription you will be able to log in from any of the supported devices or on-line to watch.

Our take

Our advice is to get the free trial. In addition to the popular series and sports, you might find the movie offerings are enough with Stream Showtime to cancel one of your other movie subscriptions like Netflix or Amazon Prime or at least take a break from it for a while and save yourself the $8 a month. However, Hulu’s subscriptions work differently. To view Showtime content you will log in through Hulu instead of though a Showtime app. Also, because Hulu’s apps don’t support live video, you won’t be able to view the live streams unless you log into hulu.com via the Web, so you will need to determine if saving a couple of bucks a month is worth that workaround.

Showtime streaming is a great option for cord-cutters who really want their Showtime series and it won’t break the bank, but please consider using it in a rotation with other pay services like Hulu or Netflix. These low cost alternatives to cable won’t save you much money if you end up subscribing to all of them.

Supported Devices

For Television

Player Format	How to watch	Cost (see current pricing)
Amazon FireTV	FireTV FireTV Stick	FireTV options
Roku	Roku Players Roku TV Roku Streaming Stick	Roku options
Apple TV	Apple TV players	Apple TV Options
Chromecast	Chromecast players	Chromecast options
Android TV	Android TV boxes	Android TV boxes

For Mobile Devices

Device	Requirements	Cost (see current pricing)
Android	4.0+	Android tablets
Fire Tablets	2nd Generation+	Fire Tablets
iPad	iPad 2 or higher (iOS 7+) iPad mini or higher (iOS 7+)	iPad tablets
iPod Touch	5th generation+ (iOS 7+)	iPod Touch
iPhone	iPhone 4 or higher (iOS 7+)	iPhones

Playstation Vue and Hulu paid services are available on many different devices. PLaystation Vue is available through PlayStation 3 or 4 Systems, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, iPhones and iPads and more. Hulu paid services are available on your desktop PC or through your Hulu app on PlayStation 3 and 4, Android TV, Smart TVs, Blu Ray players and more.