Showtime Experiments: Put "Tudors" Premiere On The Web

The New York Post claims:

FANS of Showtime's "The Tudors" can catch Sunday's season opener online - but only if they're Showtime subscribers.

Although Showtime has advertised that it will provide the second-season "Tudors"premiere on over 60 platforms, Web watchers found they needed a password to watch the show.

The password is given only to Showtime's paying customers.

But, as TV Decoder says, you can view the content without a password (see below):

Showtime is trying a variation on the old marketing adage "give away the razor to sell the blades."

The premium cable channel, which relies on revenue from individual subscribers to produce programs, is giving away the second-season premiere of the period drama "The Tudors," which is about Henry VIII and his crowd, on YouTube this week.

Read more or watch below:

Related: Jonathan Rhys Meyers Talks "The Tudors," Sex And Spitzer

Comments

[lilyflower8604]

TV Guide was offering the premiere episode for free, without a password. Will they show more episodes???

[MizLiz]

I love period dramas. All of them. What I do *NOT* love is a totally unauthentic, Hollywoodized piece of nonsense like "The Tudors".

Where's the BBC when you really need them? Watch some of their productions about Henry VIII and you'll see the difference immediately. This skinny snotty little Welshman looks like a rock-n-roll guitarist, not a KING. And the women? Good grief, they don't even try for authenticity in clothing. I watched a couple of episodes, got bored, and cancelled Showtime. They haven't had anything worth paying for since "Queer As Folk".

HBO isn't much better. They guy who was responsible for "Rome" & "Deadwood" has left, so that's a wasteland as well. I'm saving money, anyway.

[guatemalatimes]

The video is no longer available on this site.
So please remove it.

[bajabenedik]

As a Showtime subscriber with Time Warner cable in San Diego, the season 2 premiere is available already on Showtime On Demand before the kickoff on Sunday for that episode. The On Demand version of this episode, however, is not in HD format.

[ashley927]

This is by far one of the best shows I have found, the first historical series that has ever kept my interest enough to watch it but to be complete involved with the story.

[Techboy308]

I'm about ready to drop Showtime over this whole "Tudors" thing.

I just got a new HD TV this past weekend and I was watching a movie on Showtime HD when a broad red banner took up the bottom quarter of the screen advertising the impending premiere of "The Tudors."

Now, I find this sort of "in the program" advertising barely acceptable on basic cable channels like TNT, but when it starts cropping up in the middle of a move on a channel I pay a premium price for...

Maybe Showtime wants everyone in the civilized world to watch this "Tudors" thing, but I think they can ease up on the promotion just a tad. If it's good, they'll watch it...