DStv “super app” coming
MultiChoice’s new owner, Canal+, plans to roll out a “super app” that will feature all of DStv and Canal+’s content and potentially third-party streaming services such as Apple TV+, Netflix, and HBO Max.
The French media giant recently announced it had taken control of MultiChoice after a complex restructuring that enabled it to clear regulatory conditions for the transaction.
The company’s offer of R125 per share was accepted by more than 90% of MultiChoice’s other shareholders, increasing its stake in the company from 46% to 94.36 %.
The company will invoke section 124 (1) of the Companies Act to initiate a “squeeze out,” making it compulsory for the remaining shareholders to sell their shares to Canal+.
The combined entity of Canal+ and MultiChoice has over 40 million subscribers across 70 countries, including 40 in Africa.
According to Canal+ CEO and chairman Maxime Saada, one of the changes the company wants to make as part of the transition is to simplify how viewers access its content.
“We want to make it as convenient and pleasant as possible for our subscribers to access all this great content from companies all over the world, as well as the local sports and general entertainment content,” he said.
“Eventually, the vision should be close to including all of this content in one super app.”
Canal+ has previously said it is assessing whether it would continue to run its three streaming services — Canal+, DStv Stream, and Showmax — separately or combine them into a single platform.
Canal+ is not currently available in South Africa but competes with DStv in several other markets in Africa. It remains to be seen what branding the company will use for the super app.
Saada previously explained that Canal+ had positioned itself as a super content aggregator through partnerships with Apple TV+, HBO Max, Netflix, and Paramount+, a strategy it planned to continue.
Some of these agreements have resulted in bundled offerings with discounts on the third-party services, which are competition for MultiChoice’s own Showmax streaming service.
Big question mark about Showmax
While Saada previously said there were no plans to drop the Showmax brand, he recently said Canal+ would review the joint venture under which the service operates.
“We know what’s public about Showmax, but not the details of the transaction, the economics, the investments,” Saada said. “We expect to make a decision in the next few weeks or months,” said Saada.
Showmax was relaunched in 2024 on the Peacock platform in partnership with NBCUniversal. MultiChoice owns 70% of the service, and NBCUniversal owns 30%.
After relaunching, the revamped app caused a surge in new Showmax subscribers, and its technical improvements were widely welcomed. MultiChoice alone invested around R4 billion into its development.
According to entertainment data company Fabric, Showmax is currently the third most used on-demand video streaming service in Africa, behind Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
If Canal+ opted to offload Showmax, it could move its local content to the super app. Most of this is already broadcast as part of the linear programming on DStv.
Third-party international content licensed by Showmax could also become available to South Africans through services like HBO Max and Paramount+ on Canal+.
However, such a move would depend on various considerations, including the terms and length of Showmax’s licensing agreements with Comcast.
MultiChoice previously said the deal guaranteed an ongoing supply of popular titles from renowned brands including Universal Pictures, Focus Features, NBC, Peacock, DreamWorks Animation and Telemundo.
Loading ...