Still Have Showtime Gift Cards? They’re No Longer Valid – Here’s What You Need To Do

In the past it used to be possible to buy Showtime gift cards which could be redeemed for the streaming service. They also used to go on sale for 10%-20% off at times.

Back when there was a 20% off sale, I bought a couple of cards to resell without having made a reservation with the company I was planning on selling to. As things turned out, Showtime gift cards were slow movers on the resale market and they never ended up taking any more of them, so I’d been sitting on them since July 2022.

No Sho

A year later in July 2023, I figured that rather than letting them go to waste I’d redeem them for us to be able to stream Showtime for a few months. There was a problem though – you can no longer redeem Showtime gift cards.

When going on the Showtime website, there was nowhere to be able to add a code. In fact, there was no way to even set up a new Showtime account. Instead, they prompt you to sign up for Paramount+ with the Showtime add-on.

The (Sort-Of) Solution

I already have a free Paramount+ subscription courtesy of Walmart+ (which itself is courtesy of the personal Amex Platinum card), so setting up a new Paramount+ account didn’t make sense for me.

I therefore reached out to Showtime to see if it was possible to get a refund for the gift card value. This was unlikely seeing as I hadn’t bought the gift cards from them (they were from Best Buy), but it was Showtime who’d made the decision to no longer let you redeem them and so I’d hoped there was a chance.

I used the online chat function and they asked for the card details and my email address so that they could contact me. Now, I know you’re not supposed to provide gift card details to agents normally, but in this case they were worthless to me and so I didn’t have a problem sharing the details. The agent said they’d pass the details to the relevant team and, sure enough, within a day or two I received the following reply via email.

Thank you for contacting us about your SHOWTIME Gift Card. As previously mentioned, SHOWTIME gift cards can no longer be redeemed at showtime.com. Therefore, we are replacing your SHOWTIME Gift Cards totaling $75 with Paramount+ gift cards totaling $75. These gift cards can be applied to a PARAMOUNT+ with SHOWTIME plan through Paramount+.

$50 GIFT CARD PIN: xxxxxxxxxx

$25 GIFT CARD PIN: xxxxxxxxxx

New or Former Paramount+ Subscribers
1. Go to paramountplus.com/redeem.
2. Enter one of your gift card PINs and click Redeem (You will enter your additional gift card PINs once you have an active Paramount+ account).
3. You’ll be prompted to sign up for a Paramount+ account.
· If you’re a former customer, sign in with the email address and password you previously used to subscribe (or set up a new account).
4. Select the Paramount+ with SHOWTIME plan.
5. Your gift card balance will be immediately applied to your account, and you can start streaming!
6. Don’t forget to apply any additional gift cards to your account using the instructions below for Current Paramount+ subscribers.

Current Paramount+ Subscribers
If you already have an active Paramount+ account and are billed through Paramount+:
1. Go to paramountplus.com/account. If you’re not signed in, you can do so now.
2. Under Subscription & Billing > Gift Card, select Redeem Gift Card.
3. Enter your gift card PIN and select Apply.
4. Your gift card balance will be immediately applied to your Paramount+ account!
5. Don’t forget to apply any additional gift cards to your account using these same instructions.

Please note that Paramount+ gift cards cannot be redeemed by users who previously purchased their subscription to Paramount+ through a third party (e.g. Sky, Amazon, Apple, Roku, etc.). For more information on redeeming your Paramount+ gift cards or to start a Paramount+ subscription, please contact Paramount+ customer service by visiting their Help Center.

The Subsequent Problem

This initially seemed like a fair enough solution – I could load the Paramount+ gift cards to my account and add the Showtime add-on. A refund would’ve obviously been far nicer, but I knew that was a miniscule chance and not something I was actually entitled to.

There’s a problem though. The final paragraph said “Please note that Paramount+ gift cards cannot be redeemed by users who previously purchased their subscription to Paramount+ through a third party (e.g. Sky, Amazon, Apple, Roku, etc.).” Although it’s not explicitly listed there, a free Paramount+ membership obtained via Walmart+ counts as a third party subscription and so it doesn’t let you redeem Paramount+ gift cards. That meant I couldn’t redeem the Paramount+ gift card codes they sent me to add the Showtime package.

Their solution was for me to cancel my existing Paramount+ account and set up a new one in order to redeem the gift cards. That made no sense though as it meant I’d be paying for a Paramount+ package that I was currently getting for free. I went back and forth with Showtime several times explaining the problem and they maintained this is what I needed to do.

I knew I was unlikely to get any different resolution but I’m stubborn, so I decided to file a BBB complaint in the hope that someone more senior would be able to manually load $75 credit to my account, or that they’d get tired of my complaining and would just find a way to issue a $75 refund.

Alas not. Their reply via BBB – in effect – told me to pound sand. There seems to be no other solution, so I’m effectively left with a couple of options. One is to set up a new Paramount+ account and add the Showtime add-on for a few months, then cancel that other subscription. The other is to see if any friends have a Paramount+ subscription they pay for and just give them the gift cards. I’ll have to see if Showtime actually has any shows we’re interested in and then make the decision.

I’m sure most people don’t really care about my personal story, but wanted to publish this post as I’m sure there’s probably people out there who still have Showtime gift cards they didn’t realize they couldn’t use as-is.