Roku and PlayStation Vue score Showtime’s standalone service, negate Apple’s exclusive

By Christine Persaud June 8, 2015

roku showtime ray donovan — Michael Desmond/SHOWTIME

Steve Shannon, General Manager of Content and Services at Roku, confirmed in a blog post that Showtime programming would be coming to the Roku Channel Store in July, just in time for the season premieres of popular shows like Ray Donovan and Masters of Sex. The service will also be available via Sony’s PlayStation Vue service.

The news comes just a few days after Showtime confirmed that it would be launching its own subscription streaming service to compete with the likes of HBO Now and, of course, larger streaming services that have been eating into the traditional TV business. Showtime plans to offer unlimited viewing of its library of content for $11/mo. – $4 less than HBO Now. Just as with HBO Now, access will not require a traditional cable or satellite TV subscription.

Related: Showtime’s standalone streaming service launches in July on Apple devices

It was originally thought that the Showtime service would be launching exclusively with Apple devices first, later becoming available to other platforms. However, this news from Roku and Sony squashes that. Shannon confirms that Roku device owners will be able to access the whole she-bang, which includes every season of Showtime original series, plus movies, documentaries, and sports programming. Perhaps the most enticing part of the service, however, is that the subscription fee will also include access to the live broadcast of east and west coast feeds.

There’s even a promotion running: Roku customers who sign up in July will get a 30-day free trial to Showtime, after which they can pay the standard $10.99/mo. access fee. And those who already subscribe to Showtime through a participating cable, satellite, or telco provider can continue to access the network through the Showtime Anytime channel on their Roku devices.

As noted, in addition to Roku players, and PlayStation 3 and 4 consoles, the standalone Showtime service will also be accessible on Apple devices, including the Apple TV, iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, as well as on Showtime’s Website. The official launch date is set for July 12.

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Christine Persaud

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Christine has decades of experience in trade and consumer journalism. While she started her career writing exclusively about…

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