Showtime Courts Emmy Voters With Free Viewing Weekend

In a bid for Emmy attention, Showtime is throwing open its doors.

For the first time, the premium cable network is making full seasons of its original series available for free the weekend of June 15-17, a three-day span that falls within the Emmy voting period. The weekend promotion, which is being dubbed “Best in Sho,” will feature marathons of freshman offerings Homeland and House of Lies as well as Dexter, Shameless, Weeds, The Borgias, The Big C, Californication and the documentary Rebirth.

As part of the Emmy experiment, which will be available to all DirecTV customers as well as New York and Los Angeles-based Time Warner Cable users, Showtime will serve up the season finales of Nurse Jackie, Big C and Borgias on June 17 as well.

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“Given our incredibly strong slate of original programming this year, our goal was to cut through the clutter and create seamless access for Emmy voters to view as many back-to-back episodes of our critically-acclaimed series as possible,” said Showtime evp, corporate communications Trisha Cardoso in a statement. “This free preview weekend complements our online streaming efforts – now voters have a chance to watch our award-winning series on air and online.”

The network’s campaign, which is strengthened by the inclusion of Golden Globe winner Homeland, will also include print and digital ads, wrapped buses, digital billboards and a dedicated award website. The latest push comes two months after Academy members received their annual For You Consideration mailer, which included limited episodes of Showtime’s original series and selected documentaries.

Email: Lacey.Rose@THR.com; Twitter:@LaceyVRose