Showtime Announces Subscription-Free Streaming Plan

An anonymous reader writes: Following in HBO's footsteps, Showtime has announced that it is launching a stand-alone streaming service in mid-July. Simply called "Showtime," the service will launch through a partnership with Apple and costs $10.99 a month. "Going over-the-top means Showtime will be much more accessible to tens of millions of potential new subscribers," said CBS Corp. President and CEO Leslie Moonves in a statement about the deal. "Across CBS, we are constantly finding new ways to monetize our programming by capitalizing on opportunities presented by technology. This works best when you have outstanding premium content – like we do at Showtime – and when you have a terrific partner like Apple – which continues to innovate and build upon its loyal customer base," he added.

Comments

Subscription-free?

[uberdilligaff]

How exactly is a service that you have to sign up for and costs $10.99 a month "subscription-free"?

Re:Subscription-free?

[ArcadeMan]

Because unlike other stupid "channels" available on AppleTV, this one doesn't require you to already be a cable TV subscriber.

Re:Subscription-free?

[zlives]

i guess they mean no long term contract to subscribe to... but yeah

Re:Subscription-free?

[cdrudge]

No, it means you don't have to have a terrestrial or satellite cable TV subscription in order to subscribe to the streaming service.

Re:Subscription-free?

[ArcadeMan]

I was assuming that "subscription-free" was referring to an existing cable or satellite subscription. There's a lot of "channels" on the AppleTV that have this requirement.

Re: Subscription-free?

[Anonymous Coward]

Subscription free means, "no subscription.". It does not mean no cable subscription. Showtime available without cable subscription is more appropriate.

Great, but not great

[ArcadeMan]

Finally someone else who understands that limiting yourselves to already existing customers is an extremely dumb idea.

Unfortunately, the price is too high. Netflix has already established that the price for a streaming package is around 8$ per month. Don't mention the cost of any other streaming service because most of them don't exist outside of the U.S.A., something else that Netflix understood very early in the game.

Re:Great, but not great

[unimacs]

Other than their own shows and some kid stuff, there's not much in the way of good movies available on Netflix anymore. An extra $3 a month for decent movies doesn't seem like too much of a premium.

Re:Great, but not great

[organgtool]

Finally someone else who understands that limiting yourselves to already existing customers is an extremely dumb idea.

Did they, though? Now instead of being locked into a cable provider you're locked into a cable provider or the Apple ecosystem. It looks like Apple is pushing everyone who wants to do digital distribution with them into exclusivity deals. Slightly less evil than their previous tactics of price fixing but still pretty evil.

Re:Great, but not great

[Anonymous Coward]

They're going to tie it to another dumb idea though and region lock it. Because GOD FORBID someone with a non US IP dares to want to pay a US company to watch movies. No, you little foreign fucks, we don't want your filthy money. No movies for you. (And then they turn around and bitch about piracy).

Re:Great, but not great

[oh_my_080980980]

RTFA: "While only available on mobile via Apple products at launch, the company says it will announce plans to expand to other platforms and providers soon."

Re:Great, but not great

[organgtool]

FTFA:

While only available on mobile via Apple products at launch, the company says it will announce plans to expand to other platforms and providers soon. That also mirrors the path that HBO took with its streaming service

That path that HBO took was a three-month exclusive deal with Apple, so I'm deducing that Showtime has a similar deal based on the phrase "mirrors the path" in the article. I guess, if true, that isn't that bad, especially compared to the rumors of Apple trying to get content providers to avoid using other distribution channels entirely once the Apple music streaming service goes live.

Re:fruity

[ArcadeMan]

If it's anything like the HBO Now deal, it's just a temporary exclusivity and should be available via other means in a few weeks/months.

Subscription?

[pretzel87]

"millions of potential new subscribers" to the subscription-free service?

Re:Subscription?

[bobbied]

"millions of potential new subscribers" to the subscription-free service?

Marketing, Marketing.... Just don't think about it and pay up..

It's just like the "unlimited data plan" that gets you throttled if you use too much on AT&T... What's old is new again.

The moment you tie it to another service

[Ice Station Zebra]

Be it cable tv, itunes, ads (hulu) etc. I'm NEVER going to subscribe. Let me pay you money, and access content with no ads and I'm in. You can even put appropriate limits such as with netflixs and its # of streams limit.

commercials ....

[Vorl]

How much do you want to bet they will add commercials on top of their very over priced service?

Re:THIS is our answer to cord cutting?

[blueshift_1]

I disagree for items like HBO & Showtime. They are both non-standard channel groups that you have to buy to view. They tend to be between $10-15 extra to get with you normal cable/satelite service. So the external subscription isn't really significantly more than getting it anyway.

However, for standard programming you really have to see if the cost is justified. For me, an Antenna + netflix is more than enough. I think the traditional model will always appeal to some, but it's nice to see that a la carte options are available if that is all you need/want.

Re:THIS is our answer to cord cutting?

[amRadioHed]

HBO and Showtime have always been premium channels that cost $10-15 a month extra. If basic cable channels like AMC or Comedy Central wanted $10 a month, now that would be crazy.