paramount+

@Xfinity Support Isn't anyone answering anymore?

@cmwhite829​ No. There is a Showtime channel, there is a paramount channel, but there is only one Paramount+ with showtime, it is an app, and Xfinity has given us access to the app, because we pay for it, after they shut down the Showtime Go app that we used to have access to. 

@hevy​ That's not exactly it, no.  The app is for the Paramount+ streaming service, full stop.  I don't see any "Paramount+ w/Showtime" app for my, e.g., Roku or Android devices.  To watch  Showtime content on my Roku, I have to load the Xfinity Stream app and select the network.  It's not a great experience.

While I am annoyed that Xfinity has not elected to bundle Paramount+ access for their "Paramount+ w/Showtime" customers as some other cable providers have, I also think it's important to keep the slimy role of Viacom (owners of Paramount+ and now Showtime) in the spotlight.  They're the ones who confusingly chose to rename "Showtime" to "Paramount+ w/Showtime" while not actually including Paramount+ access for customers of "The Cable Channel Formerly Known as Showtime".

The confusion is quite deliberate, as I'm sure the goal was to irritate CableCo customers into yelling at their providers to get a deal done w/Viacom to give them access to the Paramount+ service that they've supposedly "already paid for" (see, it's right there in the bill!!), and the list of providers you see on the Paramount+ "sign in with your provider" page tells you who caved to this strong-arming.  Keep in mind that it's Viacom who ditched the Showtime Anytime (SA) app, then renamed the well-established "Showtime" to the highly deceptive "Paramount+ with Showtime" instead of, e.g., "Paramount Showtime" or some such.  Xfinity was willing to pay what Showtime was charging for Xfinity customers to access Showtime Anytime, but that option's now been removed and you can bet that Paramount+ was going to cost significantly more.

Btw, this whole mess is doubly annoying for users of devices that don't even get the Xfinity Stream app. My Android TV device (I guess it's Google TV now - who the heck knows?) used to have the SA app available and now can run P+, but while Xfinity does provide Stream for Android phones and tablets, it still doesn't let it run on actual Android/Google TV streaming devices.  If you really love your Nvidia Shield, tough - you wanna see your Xfinity channels, or even just that premium Showtime content you've paid for, you'll need to go buy a Roku or Amazon stick.

So nobody's covering themselves in glory here, and I've no interest in making excuses for Comcast cheaping out on their SHO customers, but as far as outright deception goes, that's all Viacom.  The name "Paramount+ with Showtime" is an out and out lie for a product that is definitely less than Paramount+, but that's how Viacom branded it, and Xfinity lists it as-is. To their shame, Xfinity does precious little to educate customers and even employees about the reality of "Paramount+ with Showtime"'s limited content, since it's obviously a bad deal to subscribe to that service through Xfinity outside of their tiered bundles.

@mlml​ This has been an issue since they gave us access, seems they won't fix it.