We can start getting back on the money trail a little earlier than we expected. Showtime will make the season 2 premiere episode of its drama series Billions available on February 10, nine days ahead of its February 19 premiere date on the premium cable channel.
Billions fans will be able to watch the first episode from the second season on demand starting this Friday, February 10. Show creator Brian Koppelman announced the news on his personal Twitter account Wednesday, and Showtime’s official website confirms the early release date. The season premiere will be available on Showtime’s streaming services, Showtime On Demand and Showtime Anytime.
Billions is a drama series that finds Paul Giamitti’s Charles Rhoades Jr., the meticulously effective U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, investigating Damian Lewis’ flashy Bobby “Axe” Axelrod, hedge fund manager of Axe Capital, to discover just how Axe made his exorbitant fortune. The 12-episode first season was relatively successful for a debut cable series, with nine of its 12 episodes surpassing a million viewers.
Showtime has been in a particularly giving mood to its subscribers so far this year. Showtime ended 2016 by making Homeland‘s highly anticipated season 6 premiere available in the same fashion on December 30, more than two weeks ahead of its January 15 release date. The early release may have hurt the episode’s linear ratings, as the episode posted the lowest viewership numbers for a Homeland season premiere since the series premiere nearly six years ago.
These advanced premieres of popular Showtime shows on its streaming services could be aimed at bolstering its subscriber count. Showtime’s parent company, CBS, launched the cable network’s stand-alone, over-the-top subscription service Showtime Anytime in July 2015. A year later, CBS CEO Les Moonves attested that the broadcast network’s stand-alone subscription services CBS All Access and Showtime Anywhere have combined for more than 2 million subscribers. Moonves says the share of those subscribers is “about evenly split,” potentially putting Showtime Anytime’s subscriber count at more than a million.
You can catch up on the full first season of Billions on Showtime Anytime and Showtime on Demand. Billions is also available to stream on Amazon Prime for those who pay $8.99 a month extra for Showtime shows.
