SHOWTIME Review 2022

Is SHOWTIME good?

SHOWTIME® is a standalone streaming service that offers two live channels plus acclaimed movies and series on demand for $10.99 a month. It’s a good deal, but while the quality is there, the quantity isn’t.

SHOWTIME has about one-fifth the content of HBO Max™ (which costs only $4.00 more per month). Also, on some devices, SHOWTIME’s watchlist is a mess and the interface is clunky.

But we still recommend SHOWTIME if you enjoy indie and art films more than blockbusters, dark-horse TV series over the ones everyone watches, and live fights.

SHOWTIME pros and cons

• Acclaimed movies and shows
• Live boxing and MMA events

• Smaller library than HBO Max
• Limited kids and family content
• Frustrating interface and watchlist

Jump to:

• Current deals
• Plans and pricing
• SHOWTIME vs. the competition
• SHOWTIME shows and movies
• Specs and features

SHOWTIME deals and promotions

The SHOWTIME/Paramount+ bundle ($11.99 a month with ads, $14.99 without) will save you $4.00–$6.00 monthly, while offering you a ton more content.

Aside from that, new SHOWTIME customers can get a 30-day free trial on either à la carte SHOWTIME or the SHOWTIME/Paramount+ bundle. This is great if you’ve been wanting to try Paramount+, which has only a 7-day trial outside of the bundle.

SHOWTIME plans and pricing

Data as of post date.

The SHOWTIME/Paramount+ bundle evens the odds in the HBO vs. SHOWTIME rivalry. For only $1–$4 more per month, you get SHOWTIME’s library plus 30,000 hours of Paramount+ movies and shows, making the bundle more competitive with HBO Max.

SHOWTIME streaming service vs. the competition

Data as of post date.

An on-demand streaming service’s value depends mainly on its content library. With the exception of Apple TV+, SHOWTIME has a smaller selection than every service in this table.

But size isn’t everything.

Shows and movies on SHOWTIME

Much of SHOWTIME’s library is exclusive or original, which by itself makes it worth your $10.99 a month.

But there are other things SHOWTIME gives you that other streaming services don’t.

SHOWTIME on-demand shows and movies

Almost every series on SHOWTIME’s streaming service is unavailable elsewhere—some people subscribe to SHOWTIME just to watch Billions and Dexter.
On the movies side, SHOWTIME has a good mix of blockbusters, classics, and indie/arthouse films—but more of the latter.

Shows on SHOWTIME (partial list)

• The Affair
• Back to Life
• Billions
• Black Monday
• Californication
• Desus & Mero
• Dexter (original and New Blood)
• The First Lady
• The Good Lord Bird
• Happyish
• House of Lies

• I’m Dying Up Here
• I Love That For You
• Kidding
• The L Word (original and Generation Q)
• Moon Base 8
• Penn & Teller: Bullshit!
• Queer as Folk
• Ray Donovan
• Shamless
• Super Pumped
• The Man Who Fell to Earth

• Twenties
• Twin Peaks: The Return
• United States of Tara
• VICE
• We Need to Talk About Cosby
• Who Is America?
• Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men
• Yellowjackets

Movies on SHOWTIME (partial list)

• American Graffiti
• Almost Famous
• Belushi
• Beverly Hills Cop
• Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
• Climax
• The Disaster Artist
• The Farewell
• Fear of a Black Hat
• The Go-Go’s
• The Green Knight
• Heartworn Highways
• Hereditary
• How to Talk to Girls at Parties
• The Jesus Rolls
• Lamb
• The Lighthouse
• The Long Shadow

• Madonna & Basquiat
• Mission Impossible III
• New York Ninja
• Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché
• Pulp Fiction
• Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic
• Run Lola Run
• Same Sex America
• Some Kind of Wonderful
• Swiss Army Man
• Tammy and the T-Rex
• The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
• Tusk
• The Watermelon Woman
• Werewolves Within
• Whiplash
• XY Chelsea
• You’re Watching Video Music Box

Live TV on SHOWTIME

SHOWTIME gives you two live channels: SHOWTIME East and SHOWTIME West (same programming, different time zones).

Most SHOWTIME TV episodes debut live and on demand simultaneously. But live boxing/MMA events, sports series, and current-events docuseries hit on demand 24–36 hours after airing live. That’s where the live feeds come in handy.

SHOWTIME sports series (partial list)

• A Season with Navy Football
• Action
• The Best of All the Smoke with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson
• Bellator MMA
• The Kings

• Outcry
• The Reveal
• ShoBox: The New Generation
• Showtime Championship Boxing
• Shut Up and Dribble

SHOWTIME sports documentaries (partial list)

• 100%: Julian Edelman
• Against the Tide
• Bad Hombres
• Basketball County: In the Water
• Disgraced
• Hoop Dreams

• Kobe Bryant’s Muse
• Macho: The Hector Camacho Story
• Perfect in ‘76
• Prison Fighters: 5 Rounds to Freedom
• Quiet Storm: The Ron Artest Story

Missing shows on SHOWTIME (partial list)

Not everything you’ve seen on the SHOWTIME channel is available to stream. Some of you might miss the following programs.

When possible, we’ve listed alternate places to watch them. “VOD” means the title is available to rent or purchase on services like Prime Video, Redbox, and Roku.

• Barbershop: The Series (Pluto, Redbox, Roku)
• Dave’s Old Porn
• Dead Like Me (IMDbTV, Roku, Tubi)
• Family Business
• Inside NASCAR
• Inside the NFL
• It’s Garry Shandling’s Show (VOD)
• Masters of Horror (IMDbTV, Tubi, Roku)

• Masters of Sex (VOD)
• Nurse Jackie (VOD)
• The Outer Limits 1995–2002 (Roku)
• Red Shoe Diaries
• Roadies (Hulu)
• Soul Food
• Twin Peaks (Paramount+)
• Weeds (Hulu)

HBO vs. SHOWTIME

If you’re trying to decide between SHOWTIME and HBO Max, here’s how the services match up in a few key categories.

Data as of post date.

As you can see, HBO Max has some definite edges over SHOWTIME in terms of library size, kids and family content, and first-run film debuts.

As usual, SHOWTIME’s advantages are in niche categories like live boxing/MMA and adult content. But, again, the SHOWTIME/Paramount+ bundle adds a ton of movies and shows.

SHOWTIME specs and features

Multiple streams

SHOWTIME allows three simultaneous streams. That’s average for a streaming service. The only services offering fewer streams are Hulu (2) and Netflix (1, bottom-tier plan). Services offering more than 3 streams include Apple TV (6), Disney+ (4), and Netflix (4, top-tier plan).

SHOWTIME also allows you to download up to 15 movies or shows for mobile viewing on these devices:

• Android phones and tablets (OS 6.0 or later)
• iPhone and iPad (iOS 12 or later)
• Amazon Fire tablets (Fire OS 4 or later)

For all devices, you can choose your download quality preference in order to save data. On phones, you’re limited to standard definition (540p) or high-definition (720p), while tablets go up to full HD (1080p).

SHOWTIME supported devices

SHOWTIME supports a wide variety of devices, including a surprising number of smart TVs. So does Paramount+, which we include here in case you decide to get the bundle. For more information on Paramount+, see our review.

SHOWTIME video and audio quality

We tested the SHOWTIME app on these setups:

• A 55-inch LG 4K Smart TV (2015) through the Xbox One
• A 42-inch Panasonic Viera TV (2009) via the Roku Ultra
• A Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 smartphone

As with most streaming services, SHOWTIME’s streaming quality varies depending on the strength of your connection—and it maxes out at full HD (1080P) and 4K (1440p).

We have Google Fiber, so our connection and picture quality were steady at home. We briefly experienced lower resolutions and buffering outside the house on our 5G network—but that was expected.

SHOWTIME user interface

The SHOWTIME app interface doesn’t use carousel menus like Prime Video, Netflix, HBO Max, and virtually every other streaming TV app. Instead, it’s all branching menus with gigantic thumbnails. This is neither awful nor refreshingly new; it’s just different.

But the SHOWTIME user interface can be a little frustrating on some devices. On the Xbox One, rewinding and fast-forwarding with any precision is incredibly difficult. A 10-second jump back/forward option would go a long way here.

We didn’t have this problem on the Roku Ultra, where directional arrows allow for bidirectional 10-second jumps (short press) or faster navigation (long press). The Roku device is by far our favorite way to use SHOWTIME.

And the Samsung smartphone has a 10-second jump backwards, but not forwards. But you can drag the cursor—albeit imprecisely, on such a small screen—in both directions.

SHOWTIME also finally improved its watchlist, which had been a confusing mess of three different menus. The new SHOWTIME watchlist is more like what we’re accustomed to on services like Netflix and Prime Video: You can add all seasons and episodes of a series with one click—and find them in one place.

Aside from these complaints, the SHOWTIME app ran well in all configurations.

Final take: Is SHOWTIME worth it?

Despite its small library and frustrating watchlist, SHOWTIME ($10.99 a month) has a good blend of content that, unlike HBO Max, isn’t aimed at mainstream audiences. Instead, it has something for everyone—except kids.

But you can expand the content library dramatically by subscribing to the SHOWTIME/Paramount+ bundle, which adds 30,000 hours of content—including tons of family-friendly movies and shows—for only $11.99–$14.99 a month.

Methodology

We’ve tested and researched the SHOWTIME streaming service for more than 85 hours, running it on two different TVs, two different streaming devices, and a smartphone. We then paired our SHOWTIME testing with data on competing streaming services to see how it compared. For more on our process, see our How We Rank page.

SHOWTIME FAQ