If you’re still clinging to the Showtime app, you’ll need to pivot at the end of the month. Paramount is sunsetting the standalone service. If you’d like to continue watching its shows and movies, you should switch to the Paramount+ with Showtime app.
Paramount has redirected prospective Showtime subscribers to Paramount+ for several months, but existing Showtime subscribers have been able to access the standalone service.
Showtime emerged as a streaming option in 2015, years after Netflix and Hulu, but well before Disney+ and Max.
Parent company Paramount has been whittling away at Showtime for years. In 2021, Business Insider spoke to demoralized Showtime employees who outlined the situation. “A chronic problem which continues to plague Showtime is a lack of investment,” one source said at the time. “You’ve got Netflix out there outspending everyone, and you’ve got WarnerMedia lining up the entire organization behind HBO Max almost in a brutal way. They’re playing for keeps. … You have to be really really committed to your streaming strategy, and that means spending money and lining up the organization in a way that promises to accomplish the goal.”
A red light flashed when Paramount pulled “Halo” from a planned Showtime debut and funneled it to Paramount+. Late last year, Showtime walked away from boxing after 37 years. Those Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) fights moved to rival Prime Video.
Paramount itself appears to be in trouble across the board. As its stock price has fallen from $100 in 2021 to $11.34 today, prospective buyers are circling the distressed media assets. Paramount+ finished 2023 with 67.5 million subscribers, though there were 77.3 million subscribers for all Paramount-owned SVODs at the end of 2022. The company never provided standalone subscriber numbers for Showtime.
Paramount+ with SHOWTIME
Paramount+ with SHOWTIME is a video streaming service offering access to A-list movies and compelling original series like Yellowjackets, Billions, Shameless, Homeland, Ray Donovan, Dexter, Weeds, and Nurse Jackie. The service includes live access to your local CBS station, and movies and TV shows from the Paramount library including “Yellowstone” spinoffs from Taylor Sheridan, Nickelodeon shows like “PAW Patrol” and “SpongeBob SquarePants,” and other classics like “Survivor,” “Beavis and Butt-Head,” and “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”