Showtime Is About To Start Streaming Its Shows On Hulu

The cable channel and the video streaming company are teaming up in the first deal of its kind.

Showtime

Showtime will start offering its programming on Hulu starting in July. This is Hulu's first premium service offering, and the first time that Showtime is making its content available as it premieres on an outside platform. Hulu subscribers will have to pay an additional fee to get Showtime, although pricing has not yet been set.

Per the announcement, the upgrade will be optional, ad-free, and include live-streaming content — so you could watch a new episode of Masters of Sex live, for example.

While this is not the first time Showtime has syndicated its content to a streaming service — it had a partnership with Netflix that expired in 2011 — the opportunity to stream its shows as they air makes it the most robust partnership it has ever offered via a third party.

This deal also means that Showtime has a service for cord cutters that looks very competitive to the recently launched HBO Now. The major difference is that by building on top of Hulu's platform, Showtime gains instant access to Hulu's 9 million subscribers who are already tuned in.

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