Showtime's new cord-cutter channel launches on Apple TV with 30-day free trial
Cable cutters can now access premium network Showtime, home to "Homeland" and "Dexter," via their Apple TV, which launched on Tuesday with a free 30-day trial period.
After the trial ends, Showtime will run subscribers $10.99 per month. The new Showtime streaming channel is available automatically on all second- and third-generation "hockey puck" Apple TV units.
Showtime's streaming-only launch also arrives ahead of the premiere of the third season of "Ray Donovan," starring Liev Schreiber and Jon Voight, which will air this Sunday at 9 p.m. Eastern. It will be followed by the third season premiere of "Masters of Sex," starring Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan, at 10 p.m.
Showtime's new streaming service operates largely the same as HBO Now, which debuted exclusively on the Apple TV in April before making its way to other platforms. But Showtime also undercuts HBO Now's $14.99-per-month price point.
The CBS-owned Showtime first announced last month that it would offer standalone, cable-free subscriptions. It was originally expected to launch July 12, making Tuesday's debut a few days early.
Like HBO, Showtime is known for a combination of original programming and an extensive movie library. Among the channel's most well-known efforts are the thriller "Homeland," crime dramas "Dexter" and "Weeds," and other shows like "Californication" and "United States of Tara."
After the trial ends, Showtime will run subscribers $10.99 per month. The new Showtime streaming channel is available automatically on all second- and third-generation "hockey puck" Apple TV units.
Showtime's streaming-only launch also arrives ahead of the premiere of the third season of "Ray Donovan," starring Liev Schreiber and Jon Voight, which will air this Sunday at 9 p.m. Eastern. It will be followed by the third season premiere of "Masters of Sex," starring Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan, at 10 p.m.
Showtime's new streaming service operates largely the same as HBO Now, which debuted exclusively on the Apple TV in April before making its way to other platforms. But Showtime also undercuts HBO Now's $14.99-per-month price point.
The CBS-owned Showtime first announced last month that it would offer standalone, cable-free subscriptions. It was originally expected to launch July 12, making Tuesday's debut a few days early.
Like HBO, Showtime is known for a combination of original programming and an extensive movie library. Among the channel's most well-known efforts are the thriller "Homeland," crime dramas "Dexter" and "Weeds," and other shows like "Californication" and "United States of Tara."
Comments
Does anyone have an update on what the total of all these 'unbundled' services on @TVwould be, so far?
I signed up for HBO Now, and am really enjoying it. I like Bill Maher (although he can be a bit snarky at times). I watched the first season of True Detective.
But the show I'm really enjoying is Silicon Valley...it took a few episodes to like it, but it can be pretty funny. Especially, how everything at Hooli (read Google) just doesn't work, whether it's a hologram type skype or the driverless car.
Best.
SlingTV with ESPN and ESPN2 at $20/mo is enough. Came with a free FireTV stick thingy that is functional. Sure would be nice to have ESPN on AppleTV so it's all on one device.
About $10/month is doable for a channel. Hopefully HBO's experiment is going well and at some point they'll be able to lower their fee.
Not all channels.
Of course, ESPN would probably command like $20/mo.
Edit:
Oops. Someone already mentioned ESPN.
I was right though.
Are you kidding? Homeland is excellent, while Ray Donovan, and Penny Dreadful are pretty good.
It looks to me as if the Showtime deal (et al) are just like mini cable deals - you pay a subscription for a bundle and only end up watching one or two shows. From an end user perspective it is not great. Same cost overall (I suspect), same programming, but several accounts / bills.
This decoupling is just going to lead to people paying more in the end.
Yep.
I'd agree. I dropped HBO after the free period as I found that pretty lacking other than you know what. I find between Netflix and Amazon Prime (which is free to me really as I pay that fee for shipping really) I have all I need. I can always swap HDMI inputs on the very rare occasion I need Cable (we get Comcast HD in with HOA fees) such as watching the amazing US Women's Football Team win the FIFA World Cup again! :smokey:
How about Amazon Prime Streaming?! SyFy Channel?! FOX News?! FOX Sports 1?!
Who are you asking? I would bet Amazon would want to be on ATV, but probably (never say never) won't happen with Apple. As far as the others, it's up to the provider to offer a stand-alone subscription.
that's just, like, your opinion, man. I've never seen Homeland. and I love their new show The Knick. I dont have cable and wouldn't mind a few months of this when the next season returns.
I recently renegotiated my cable subscription last week, and the cable companies are obviously desperate to keep customers.
I saw a good deal that was only available to brand new customers, and I basically told them in a polite way that you can either give me that deal, or you will lose a longtime customer. I ended up getting the deal. That's the second time that I've renegotiated my plan in the past two years. It's become an annual thing now.
you're assuming all people want all channels. poor assumption.
Besides licensing and content deals and the rest of it...the technical hurdle to this model taking off is content discovery. AppleTV needs to be completely overhauled to allow the deep-seeded content within Apps to rise to the surface.
Example: I may or may not see the value in ShowTime. I probably think $10 a month is way too much when I already have Netflix and HBO. But what if ShowTime has more content than I realize? I'll never know unless I give it a chance, and thats not going to happen...
However, if Apple had its most needed feature which is GLOBAL SEARCH, it could present search results to me from ALL Apps on the AppleTV, even ones I'm not yet subscribed to. If I consistently find a certain channel returning search results for the shows/movies that I'm looking for, I am going to think that I need to subscribe to that. And if Apple were smart, they would make it quick and easy to subscribe to channel right search results.
Not all channels.
Of course, ESPN would probably command like $20/mo.
Edit:
Oops. Someone already mentioned ESPN.
I was right though.
Oh, there's a few other channels included: TNT, AMC, some other fodder. It's actually the old cram model to justify the $20/price for ESPN though. And it is limited to one device at a time, requiring LI/PW every time you switch devices. Still, a start.
I get a very basic HDTV package of like a dozen channels (no ESPN) from Comcast for what is essentially free. They say it cost $20/mo on the bill, but if I dropped it and kept my (very perky, very stable) cable modem, the cost for the latter would go up by about the same amount.
This decoupling is just going to lead to people paying more in the end.
Its about paying for what you actually intend to consume, instead of being forced to pay for things that you will never consume.
A person like me is more than happy to pay $8 for Netflix and $10 for HBO (I know its $15 right now), have my needs met.
If you're a person who feels the need to subscribe to every single service that becomes available...well you're not a cord cutter at all, are you? You are better served by paying $60/month for 500 channels of bullshit.