STAR India owned video streaming service Hotstar will make content from Showtime available on their paid subscription service. The deal with Showtime parent CBS Corporation covers streaming video, on-demand content licensing and a trademark agreement for Showtime in India. Content which will be provided on Hotstar Premium includes existing shows like 'The Affair', 'Billions', 'Ray Donovan', and the recently launch 'I'm dying here'. We checked and 'Twin Peaks' and 'I'm Dying up here' are already available under Hotstar Premium. Upcoming shows include 'Smilf' and 'Escape at Dannemore'. Hotstar Premium is available for Rs 199 per month. The announcement, strangely, makes no mention of two of Showtime's major hits: Californication and Shameless, both of which have decidedly 18+ content, and aren't available on the platform (Shameless and Californication are on Prime Video and Netflix). Then again, Hotstar does show Game Of Thrones uncensored, and claims content on Premium is "Uncut, Ad-free & Minutes after America." We've written to STAR for a clarification on two things: whether these two shows -- Californication and Shameless -- will be shown in India, and whether Showtime Original Movies are also included in this deal. Unlike Netflix and Amazon Prime, which charge for access to content, Hotstar has taken a freemium approach: some of the content (for example, premium movies and premium TV shows) are behind a paywall, while the rest is available for free. With multiple channels being streamed, including sports, general entertainment and news, and a large library of content, and over 250 million app downloads, Hotstar has…
