SHOWTIME will be available to more than 73 million households during a Free Preview Weekend from Friday, February 17 through Monday, February 20. Viewers nationwide will be able to sample the network’s award-winning programming on SHOWTIME, SHOWTIME On Demand®, SHOWTIME ANYTIME® and via select distributors’ TV Everywhere portals. The Free Preview Weekend will include the season two premiere of the powerful drama series BILLIONS, starring Oscar® nominee and Emmy® and Golden Globe® winner Paul Giamatti and Emmy and Golden Globe winner Damian Lewis. Additionally, viewers will be able to sample new episodes of the Emmy-winning drama series HOMELAND, along with a live SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING event, feature films and compelling documentary programming.
Saturday’s primetime lineup will be anchored by the SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING presentation of Broner vs. Granados live at 9 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. PT. Four-division world champion Adrien Broner will face the hard-charging Adrian Granados in a welterweight showdown. In co-featured bouts, WBA Welterweight Champion David Avanesyan will defend his belt against former two-time champ Lamont Peterson, while 175-pound contenders Marcus Browne and Thomas Williams square off in a crossroads match. At 6:30 p.m. ET/10:30 p.m. PT on Saturday, SHOWTIME will also premiere the Academy Award nominated film Bridge of Spies, the Cold War drama directed by Academy Award® winner Steven Spielberg and starring multiple Oscar winner Tom Hanks, Academy Award winner Mark Rylance, Academy Award nominee Amy Ryan and Emmy winner Alan Alda.
Free Preview Weekend viewers will have access to current and past episodes of critically-acclaimed SHOWTIME original series including HOMELAND, BILLIONS, THE AFFAIR, SHAMELESS, RAY DONOVAN, MASTERS OF SEX, PENNY DREADFUL, EPISODES and DICE, all available on SHOWTIME On Demand and SHOWTIME ANYTIME. The network will also make available over 300 feature films on SHOWTIME On Demand and SHOWTIME ANYTIME including Carol, The Hateful Eight, Southpaw, The Imitation Game, The Hurt Locker and No Country For Old Men. Documentary programming will include the SHOWTIME documentary film WEINER, focusing on the life of former congressman Anthony Weiner in the face of an ongoing high-profile scandal, and MADONNA: REBEL HEART TOUR, the music icon’s concert film shot around the world, featuring a collection of live and behind-the-scenes footage.
Sunday’s Free Preview lineup will feature a full season one marathon of the hit drama BILLIONS, starting at 9 a.m. ET/PT. The marathon will lead into an all-new episode of the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning series HOMELAND at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Then, at 10 p.m. ET/PT SHOWTIME will premiere the second season of BILLIONS. Season two picks up immediately after the season one finale, as U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhoades (Giamatti) squares off against billionaire hedge fund king Bobby “Axe” Axelrod (Lewis), scorching the earth in a costly war for personal domination. It’s law versus money, with power, sex, and the soul of New York in the balance. Maggie Siff stars as Wendy Rhoades, Chuck’s estranged wife and the top performance coach in the hedge fund world. Malin Akerman plays Lara Axelrod, Axe’s fiercely loyal and street-smart wife. Toby Leonard Moore, David Costabile and Condola Rashad also star. Guest stars this season include Rob Morrow, Dan Soder, Kelly AuCoin, Mary-Louise Parker, Danny Strong, James Wolk, Christopher Denham, Glenn Fleshler, Eric Bogosian and Asia Kate Dillion. BILLIONS is created, written and executive produced by showrunners Brian Koppelman and David Levien. The series is also created and executive produced by Andrew Ross Sorkin.
The Free Preview Weekend is available on both SD and HD feeds to digital subscribers of participating providers only. Select providers will also offer the Free Preview via SHOWTIME ON DEMAND and SHOWTIME ANYTIME. The preview will be available through a number of distributors including AT&T U-verse, Comcast’s Xfinity, DirecTV, Dish, Verizon Fios, Altice USA (Optimum and Suddenlink), CenturyLink Prism® TV, Frontier Communications, RCN and Sony PlayStationTM Vue, among others. Available platforms will vary by participating distributor. Previews may contain PG, PG-13, TV-14, TV-MA and R-rated programming. For additional details and a full schedule of programming, go to SHO.com/freepreview.
Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBS Corporation, owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ and FLIX®, and also offers SHOWTIME ON DEMAND®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ ON DEMAND and FLIX ON DEMAND®, and the network’s authentication service SHOWTIME ANYTIME®. Showtime Digital Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of SNI, operates the stand-alone streaming service SHOWTIME®. SHOWTIME is currently available to subscribers via cable, DBS and telco providers, and as a stand-alone streaming service through Apple®, Roku®, Amazon and Google. Consumers can also subscribe to SHOWTIME via Hulu, Sony PlayStation Vue and Amazon Channels. SNI also manages Smithsonian Networks™, a joint venture between SNI and the Smithsonian Institution, which offers Smithsonian Channel™, and offers Smithsonian Earth™ through SN Digital LLC. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME PPV. For more information, go to www.SHO.com.