Showtime Keys Multiplatform Freeview to 74M Homes

With some top-flight fare on the menu, Showtime will serve up a free preview next weekend to some 74 million households across cable, satellite and telco providers.

Extending from Friday, May 9 through Sunday, May 11, the freeview not only extends to the premium service, but Showtime On Demand, its TV Everywhere vehicle, Showtime Anytime, as well as a number of the participating distributors’ portals.

The free preview opens up the series premiere of drama Penny Dreadful, new episodes of original series Nurse Jackie and the final season of Californication, the premium-window premiere of Scary Movie 5, and an encore of the 12-round welterweight unification bout won by Floyd Mayweather over Marcos Maidana that played on Showtime pay-per-view on May 3.

During the preview, Showtime will make the second installment of Penny Dreadful -- a reimagining of some of literature’s most famous characters, notably Dr. Frankenstein, Dorian Gray and Dracula embroiled in Victorian London – available on Showtime Anytime, immediately after its linear bow on May 11 at 10 p.m. (ET/PT).

Free preview weekend watchers can also screen installments of original series, including Homeland, Ray Donovan, Masters of Sex, House of Lies, Weeds and Dexter on Showtime On Demand and Showtime Anytime.

The network will also air an array of theatricals including Silver Linings Playbook, Django Unchained, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 and Part 2, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Sinister, Alex Cross, Step Up Revolution and Lincoln.

Documentary programming will include the first four episodes of Years of Living Dangerously, Richard Pryor: Omit The Logic, MAD DOG: Inside the Secret World of Muammar Gaddafi, Broadway Idiot: Green Day on Broadway, Springsteen & I, Made in America, LT: The Life & Times, Billy Joel: A Matter of Trust - The Bridge To Russia and History of the Eagles, among others.