Watch Showtime for Free This Holiday Weekend

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You might know the upcoming long weekend as Presidents Day weekend, but Showtime is calling it Free Preview Weekend.

So Showtime — a network that’s usually accessible only with an expensive pay-TV package — will be free from Friday, Feb. 17, through Monday, Feb. 20.

A few dozen TV and streaming providers are participating. They include AT&T U-verse, Comcast’s Xfinity, DirecTV and Dish, for example. So you’ll be able to watch Showtime for free if you’re a digital subscriber to any of those providers, all of which are listed on Showtime’s Free Preview Weekend webpage.

Highlights of Showtime’s weekend lineup include:

  • The Academy Award-nominated film “Bridge of Spies,” a Cold War drama directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks (Saturday at 6:30 p.m. ET/10:30 p.m. PT).
  • The live Showtime Championship Boxing presentation of Adrien Broner vs. Adrian Granados (Saturday at 9 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. PT).
  • A full season-one marathon of Showtime’s original drama series “Billions” (starting Sunday at 9 a.m. ET/PT).
  • A new episode of the Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning series “Homeland” (Sunday at 9 p.m. ET/PT).
  • The premier of the second season of “Billions” (Sunday at 10 p.m. ET/PT).

If you end up getting hooked on Showtime programming — which is probably the network’s hope — keep in mind that you don’t necessary have to upgrade your pay-TV subscription just to access one channel you enjoy.

Amazon Prime members can buy add-on subscriptions to more than 80 individual channels of their choosing — including Showtime (for $8.99 a month) and HBO (for $14.99 a month) — from Amazon. This is possible because the perks of a Prime membership include access to a feature called Amazon Channels.

If you’re curious but not ready to commit, note that if you sign up for a free 30-day Amazon Prime trial, you’ll also get free access to Showtime and HBO for a week. Just click this yellow "Start Your Free Trials" button for the Showtime trial or this yellow "Start Your Free Trials" button for the HBO trial.

To learn more about Prime, check out “8 Major Freebies and Discounts You Get With Amazon Prime.”

If you’re considering ditching traditional pay-TV entirely, check out “How to Cut the Cable TV Cord in 2017.”

What’s your favorite way to watch TV? Let us know below or on Facebook.

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