Press Release – NEW YORK (Jan. 4, 2012) — SHOWTIME® will be available in a record 60 million households during Free Preview Weekend that features two live events from SHOWTIME Sports beginning this Friday, Jan. 6.
From Friday to Sunday, Jan. 8, viewers across the country will have the opportunity to sample the premium network’s award-winning programming on SHOWTIME, SHOWTIME HD™ and SHOWTIME On Demand®.
The acclaimed documentary film produced in conjunction with CBS Sports, A GAME OF HONOR, will be available this weekend on SHOWTIME (Sat. at 9:15a ET/PT), on SHOWTIME Extreme® (Fri. at 11p ET/PT) and via SHOWTIME On Demand (throughout the weekend).
The live sports offering includes professional boxing and mixed martial arts. On Friday, four promising boxers will be featured on ShoBox: The New Generation (11 p.m., ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast). In the main event of a doubleheader, undefeated Luis Ramos of Santa Ana, Calif., faces Mexico’s Raymundo Beltran. A bout between unbeatens Michael Perez and Omar Figueroa Jr. will open the telecast from Indio, Calif.
On Saturday, live Strikeforce MMA fights will be televised on both SHOWTIME (10 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast) and SHO Extreme (8 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast). STRIKEFORCE middleweight champion Luke Rockhold of San Jose, Calif. will defend his title against Keith Jardine of Albuquerque, N.M. in the main event of a five-fight show on SHOWTIME from the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. And, for the first time, preliminary bouts will be televised live on SHO Extreme in a new series titled STRIKEFORCE EXTREME.
This week’s episode of the Emmy® award-winning Inside The NFL will air several times during the weekend on SHOWTIME and SHO Extreme. It can be seen the first two times at 7 p.m. ET/PT and 10 p.m. ET/PT on Friday on SHO Extreme, one day before the NFL playoffs begin.
More on SHOWTIME Free Preview Weekend (#SHOFreePreview)
The Free Preview weekend will include the series premiere of the new SHOWTIME original comedy series HOUSE OF LIES, as well as the anticipated return of the critically-acclaimed hit series SHAMELESS and CALIFORNICATION, and the primetime premium television premiere of Academy Award-winning Best Picture THE KING’S SPEECH.
Free Preview Weekend viewers will also have access to critically-acclaimed SHOWTIME original series including season one of HOMELAND, THE BORGIAS, EPISODES and SHAMELESS, season two of THE BIG C, season three of Nurse Jackie, season four of Californication, season six of DEXTER, and season seven of Weeds, all available on SHOWTIME On Demand.
SHOWTIME will also air a variety of feature films and documentaries including Blue Valentine, Red, THE MECHANIC, Piranha, I Am Number Four and The Twilight Saga: New Moon and Eclipse.
The Free Preview Weekend is available to digital subscribers of participating providers only, on both SD and HD feeds. Select providers will offer the Free Preview via SHOWTIME ON DEMAND®. The preview will be available across a number of distributors including Comcast, Charter, Cox, DIRECTV, Verizon, Mediacom and RCN. Previews may contain PG, PG-13, TV-14, TVMA and R rated programming. You must be a digital subscriber to receive video on demand and HD.
Viewers who tune in and order SHOWTIME for the first time can get $25 cash back. For additional details on the offer go to SHO.com/order and for SHOWTIME Free Preview weekend (#SHOfreepreview), go to www.SHO.com/freepreview.
About Showtime Networks Inc.
Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBS Corporation, owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ and FLIX®, as well as the multiplex channels SHOWTIME 2™, SHOWTIME® SHOWCASE, SHOWTIME EXTREME®, SHOWTIME BEYOND®, SHOWTIME NEXT®, SHOWTIME WOMEN®, SHOWTIME FAMILY ZONE® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ XTRA. SNI also offers SHOWTIME HD™, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ HD, SHOWTIME ON DEMAND® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ ON DEMAND, and the network’s authentication service SHOWTIME ANYTIME®. SNI also manages Smithsonian Networks, a joint venture between SNI and the Smithsonian Institution, which offers Smithsonian Channel™. All SNI feeds provide enhanced sound using Dolby Digital 5.1. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME PPV®.