New DStv owner actively monitored
French media titan Groupe Canal+, the new owner of MultiChoice Group and DStv, is facing intensified scrutiny from the Competition Commission as it looks for areas where it can cut costs.
The watchdog’s spokesperson, Siya Makunga, told Business Times the Commission was actively monitoring Canal+’s compliance with the conditions it agreed to when it acquired MultiChoice in 2025.
These conditions included a moratorium on layoffs in South Africa, and commitments to produce local content and to use small black-owned businesses as suppliers.
People in the industry and Members of Parliament raised concerns about potential violations when it froze payments to suppliers and asked for a blanket 20% discount on invoices, and shuttered Showmax.
Canal+ Africa has also reportedly offered voluntary severance packages at MultiChoice and at its cybersecurity subsidiary, Irdeto.
However, Makunga explained that voluntary severance offers would not violate the moratorium on retrenchments imposed by the conditions of the merger.
Canal+ acquired MultiChoice in an all-cash deal in 2025, which valued the South African pay-TV giant at R55 billion.
This was after buying up over 35% of MultiChoice’s stock on the JSE over several years, triggering a mandatory buyout offer.
The high valuation belies the predicament MultiChoice found itself in at the time of the acquisition, bleeding subscribers and revenue.
While it swung from a loss to profit in the financial results immediately preceding the finalisation of the Canal+ deal, this was only because it sold a stake in its decoder insurance business to Sanlam.
To turn the company around, Canal+ announced plans to spend up to €100 million (R1.9 billion) to support DStv’s return to sustainable growth in its most recent annual results.
Canal+’s plan to return MultiChoice to profitability is structured around four strategic pillars designed to reignite subscriber growth and strengthen the business.
These include investing in content, streamlining DStv’s product offerings and marketing, subsidising decoder prices, and the aforementioned restructuring programme.
Shutting down Showmax
The Competition Commission’s decision to more closely monitor Canal+ also comes after it announced the winding down of Showmax.
Canal+ described MultiChoice’s streaming service as an “expensive failure” and announced earlier in 2026 that it would exit its contract on Showmax. NBCUniversal owns 30% of the service.
Showmax had reported nearly R8.8 billion in cumulative operating losses since 2023, and MultiChoice’s last results before the Canal+ takeover showed the situation was only worsening.
It reported that Showmax’s trading loss had escalated from R2.6 billion to R4.9 billion, an 87.7% decline in performance. This was despite past assurances to investors that the situation would improve in 2025.
Showmax recently notified subscribers that it will stop accepting new sign-ups from 31 March and shut down on 30 April 2026.
A dedicated Showmax section will be created in the DStv Stream app, where this content will reside for the time being. Many Showmax Originals are already available on the DStv app.
The local film industry appealed to the Competition Commission following the announcement, raising concerns about what Showmax’s shutdown will mean for local productions.
Pricing and consumer strategy
As part of its strategy to retain and win back DStv subscribers, Canal+ will not increase subscription fees in 2026.
First announced by Canal+ Africa boss David Mignot, this was confirmed by MultiChoice SA LicenceCo CEO, Willington Ngwepe, to MyBroadband.
LicenceCo is the local licensing entity for MultiChoice, which was established as part of the Canal+ transaction to comply with legislation limiting foreign ownership of broadcasters to 20%.
Ngwepe explained that although they set the local prices, they are based on costs from MultiChoice South Africa, the Canal+ entity that supplies the services LicenceCo sells.
The decision not to increase prices comes on the back of DStv introducing bill splitting in January 2026, which allows subscribers to share their bills between two people.
Bill splitting allows the primary holder of a DStv account to use the MyDStv app to send a payment link to split the monthly bill between themselves and another person.
MultiChoice confirmed to MyBroadband that the feature applies to all month-to-month decoder and streaming DStv packages.
“Currently, you can only split your DStv bill with one other person, but there are plans to enable subscribers to split their bill with more than just one household member,” it stated.
“The feature reflects the reality of shared living arrangements, where subscription costs are often divided across households, and is designed to make cost-sharing simpler and more transparent.”
DStv is also running promotions on decoders and installations, including an HD Single View decoder with installation for R799 and the Explora for R1,499.
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