How to watch Showtime in Australia

If you think we do it tough in Australia with an ever-increasing number of streaming services, guess again. While we do have dozens to contend with, those in the USA have around 50 to choose between. Hulu and HBO Max are two of the bigger names not natively available in Australia, but another household name in the States is Showtime.

Here’s everything you need to know about accessing Showtime in Australia. But before we get into all that, you’ll want fast and reliable internet for streaming Showtime and other services, so check out the daily updating list of popular NBN 50 plans below for inspiration.

Showtime is one of many American premium TV networks owned by Paramount Media Networks. That already makes things a bit confusing because of the presence of both Showtime and Paramount Plus streaming content in the US.

In Australia, this is compounded a bit more because Showtime content is currently spread across streaming services, including Paramount Plus, Stan and Channel 10. Paramount Plus is already a tricky enough sales proposition in an increasingly crowded Australian streaming market.

Still, you may not be familiar with the Showtime name, but you likely know at least some of the content. Here’s a list of some of the recent and more popular properties from Showtime that’ve resonated with Aussie viewers:

• Yellowjackets
• Billions
• City on a Hill
• Your Honor
• Super Pumped
• Black Monday

Watching Showtime content in Australia is a bit all over the place. If you happen to be signed up to Stan, Disney Plus and Paramount Plus, you’ve got all of the main bases covered. If not, it’s a bit of jumping around to find what’s available on which service.

Let’s take a closer look at which current Showtime shows are available where (according to our friends at JustWatch):

• Billions (Stan)
• The Chi (Disney Plus)
• City on a Hill (Stan)
• The L Word: Generation Q (Stan)
• Your Honor (Stan and SBS On Demand)
• Yellowjackets (Paramount Plus)
• Super Pumped (Paramount Plus)
• The First Lady (Paramount Plus)
• Black Monday (Stan)
• The Man Who Fell to Earth (Paramount Plus)
• Flatbush Misdemeanors (Paramount)
• I Love That for You (no Australian streaming services)
• All Access (no Australian streaming services)
• The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth (no Australian streaming services)
• Couples Therapy (SBS On Demand; one season only)
• Vice (Tubi; one season only)
• Desus & Mero (no Australian streaming services)
• Ziwe (no Australian streaming services)
• Back to Life (Foxtel Now; one season only)

As is the case for late-to-market streaming services, it looks like pre-existing contractual licensing agreements with services like Stan trump the ability for all Showtime content to appear in the Paramount Plus Australian library. This may change in the future when those licences expire.

The other way to watch Showtime content in Australia is to use a virtual private network (VPN) service that has a good reputation for streaming geoblocked US content from America. Connecting to a compatible US VPN server fools American streaming services into believing you’re connecting from the US, rather than from Australia.

Be warned that for Showtime and other US streaming services, using a VPN to bypass geoblocked content is likely a violation of the user agreement you accept at sign-up, so you may have your account banned. Still want to proceed? Read on.

At the time of writing, Showtime was offering a 30-day trial before charging US$3.99 a month for the first three months. Use a VPN like NordVPN, ExpressVPN or Hotspot Shield to connect to a US server, then visit the Showtime homepage and follow the sign-up prompts. You’ll need to enter a username and password.

I had issues getting the final sign-up page to load (across browsers), so I used a backdoor method on Android, which is only recommended for advanced users. On an Android device, use a search engine to look for ‘showtime apk’, then download the file from a reputable site. Scan the downloaded file before installing and accept the prompt to install the Showtime app.

To complete the sign-up process, you not only have to agree to the terms and conditions, you also need to provide a valid payment method. The Showtime app sniffed out all of my Australian payment methods, which meant I couldn’t complete the sign-up process. This means the only way around it is to use a Showtime gift card, which can be purchased in US$25 or US$50 options from online gift card stores like My Gift Card Supply. Enter the Showtime gift card code as your payment method, and you’re ready to stream.