Watch Showtime for Free This Holiday Weekend

If you subscribe to a digital TV or streaming provider, you can likely enjoy free access to the premium TV network Showtime for four days.

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Karla Bowsher • February 13, 2017

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.