Spotify Adds Free Showtime Subscription to $4.99 Student Tier
By Janko Roettgers
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Spotify is adding another perk to its student subscription tier: Eligible college students who subscribe to the company’s $4.99 student tier can now access Showtime’s video streaming service for no additional costs. That’s in addition to Hulu’s limited commercials plan, which added to its student subscription tier a year ago.
The new perk means that students now get access to 3 streaming services for less than $5 total. Bought individually and without any student discounts, the combined bill for these three services would be close to $29 per month.
“Spotify Premium has just changed the content game for students. By joining forces with and continuing our relationship with Hulu, Spotify Premium is now able to give students a complete world of music and video content, shows and film,” said Spotify’s chief premium officer Alex Norström in a statement. “Never before have students had this level of streaming entertainment options, at this unprecedented value, all in one package.”
The new offer is available to both existing and new Spotify student subscribers, and Spotify is giving any student who isn’t paying for its premium service yet another incentive to sign up: The music service is charging new subscribers of its student tier just $0.99 for the first 3 months.
There is some notable fine print to this new offer: Spotify’s student plan is only available to students who are currently enrolled at a U.S. Title IV accredited college or university, and above the age of 18. Subscribers also have to sign up directly with Spotify, and not via iTunes or Google Play — something the company insists on to avoid having to give Apple or Google a cut.
Spotify first announced its partnership with Hulu last September, and began offering a combined $12.99 per month Hulu and Spotify subscription for users who aren’t currently enrolled in college in April. There’s no word yet on whether Showtime plans to extend its partnership with Spotify in a similar fashion in the future.
