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Spotify and Hulu add Showtime to $5-per-month college student plan

If giving your college-student a music or movie-streaming service subscription just seems too likely to encourage non-academic behaviors, they may still have easy access to it anyway. It appears some of those services are just gifting themselves now.

Last year, Spotify and Hulu announced a partnership called Spotify Premium for Students that offers premium versions of both services to college students for just $5 per month.

Now, there is another company joining Spotify and Hulu in capitalizing upon college kids’ penchant for procrastination: Showtime. The popular premium cable company is now part of the Spotify Premium for Students lineup. The best part? The price is still $5 per month.

Students can now sign up for Spotify Premium for Students and get Showtime as part of the deal, with new users getting all three services for just $1 a month for the first three months, a price that automatically converts to $5 per month thereafter. Those without the discounted student rate would pay a combined $29 per month for the same services.

Both new and existing Spotify student subscribers can take advantage of this partnership, which promises access to Hulu’s Limited Commercials plan, and any of Showtime’s excellent catalog of TV shows and movies. Spotify’s partnership with Hulu has been a massive success for both companies, so it makes sense that Showtime would want to get involved. It’s a great way to get younger eyes on a network that relies heavily on older audiences.

“[The partnership] has been an overwhelming success for us, and for Hulu as well,” Alex Norström, Spotify chief premium business officer, said to The Verge about the deal. “We’re always trying to find creative solutions to add value back to our premium customers, especially via partnerships, and our focus is on the long-term relationship with each subscriber. If we do the right thing, they reward us with loyalty.”

If the new collaboration proves a success, we may even see Showtime joining the non-student partnership that Hulu and Spotify also share, which costs just $13 per month.

So if you are an undergrad at a U.S. Title IV-accredited, U.S.-based college or university, head over to Spotify’s student website to learn more about the latest partnership and eligibility requirements, and of course, to sign up.

Updated on August 29, 2018: Updated to reflect the addition of Showtime to the service.

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Parker Hall
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Parker Hall is a writer and musician from Portland, OR. He is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin…
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