Charter Communications said it will provide the Showtime and Epix premium channels to its customers that do not already receive those channels at no extra charge through April 19.
Spectrum customers will gain access to the channels beginning today, March 23. The expansion begins as many people across the country are home-bound to stop the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19.
The company, along with other cable operators, has made its broadband service available to qualifying low-income homes with children for free for 60 days as the virus forced many schools to shut down and businesses to require their employees work from home.
“We hope that by expanding these programming options it will provide even more hours of entertainment for our customers in these challenging times,” Charter EVP of programming acquisition Tom Montemagno said in a press release. “The highly-popular original entertainment programming and movies on these networks will be of great interest to a large cross-section of our customers.”
Charter has about 15.6 million video customers across the country, including in markets like New York City and Los Angeles that have been hit hard by the coronavirus. Showtime features popular original shows like Billions and Homeland, in addition to movies and documentaries. Epix programming includes War of the Worlds, Godfather of Harlem and Slow Burn, as well as a new series, Belgravia, which premieres on April 12.
