Big changes at DStv
South Africa’s top pay-TV service DStv looks very different one year after the takeover of its parent company, MultiChoice, by Groupe Canal+.
The French media giant assumed control of MultiChoice in September 2025, following approvals of the acquisition by the Competition Commission and Independent Communications Authority of South Africa.
The company had started a creeping takeover of the South African Pay-TV giant years earlier, gradually increasing its shareholding before triggering a mandatory buyout offer in 2025.
The MultiChoice that Canal+ ultimately acquired was a far cry from the money printer it had been before it began facing true competition from international video streaming services.
Over the past year, Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada and Canal+ Africa boss David Mignot have spearheaded a major cost-cutting and product simplification strategy to return MultiChoice to profitability.
Realising these “synergies” has included closing certain business units, reducing headcount, and trimming its African content production.
Perhaps the biggest move was shutting down the struggling Showmax video streaming service at the end of April 2026.
The entity had run up over R9 billion in trading losses since its relaunch in partnership with Comcast in 2023.
The move has raised concern in the entertainment industry about MultiChoice cutting down investment in local content.
As part of the conditions set by the Competition Commission, Canal+ is not allowed to retrench staff in South Africa until 2028.
However, through voluntary severance packages, the company has downsized the workforce at its Randburg headquarters. As of June 2026, about 312 staff had taken the packages.
Customer-facing changes have included some channel adjustments outside MultiChoice’s control and others that were likely driven by Canal+’s cost-cutting measures.
Firstly, Paramount wound down its linear TV operations in Africa at the end of 2025, resulting in the closure of BET Africa, CBS Justice, CBS Reality, and MTV Base.
Just a few weeks later, there was some good news for Access subscribers: three channels from higher-end bouquets — WWE, Trace Gospel, and Trace Ngoma — were added to their subscriptions.
DStv packages restructured with a new lick of paint
The restructuring affected channels such as KykNet Lekker, M-Net Movies 1, Mzansi Bioskop, and Mzansi Music.
These were shut down, with their content rolled into the schedules of other channels, except for KykNet Lekker.
KykNet Lekker was a channel of primarily older content, which was exclusive to DStv Access. Those subscribers now receive the KykNet & kie channel.
Premium and Compact Plus customers have lost the most channels and also lost access to sought-after Warner Bros. and HBO content in June 2026.
The biggest change came on 16 September 2026, just over a week before the first anniversary of Canal+’s acquisition of MultiChoice.
The company completely overhauled DStv’s packages, following through on its ambition to simplify the pay-TV operator’s products.
All but its EasyView and Premium packages were renamed, alongside a handful of channel adjustments. Access became Starter, and Family became Select.
Compact was replaced with a more sport-focused Sports plan, while Compact Plus was grandfathered, and a new Movies & Series bouquet was introduced in its place.
DStv also refreshed the look of its website and app, replacing the familiar blue colour scheme and background with black.
The bouquets are no longer prefixed with “DStv” either. Instead, they are simply called Starter, Select, Movies & Series, and Premium, with fonts and colours similar to Canal+’s packages.
While Canal+ has indicated that it plans to roll out its own streaming app in MultiChoice markets, the company insisted these changes were not part of a stealthy rebranding exercise.
The table below summarises the timeline of major changes at MultiChoice and DStv since Canal+ took over its parent company roughly a year ago.
| Date | Development |
|---|---|
| September 2025 | Africa leadership team appointed, with David Mignot leading Canal+ Africa |
| October 2025 | DStv Coins rewards system launched |
| November 2025 | Entry-level decoder prices reduced from R699 to R299 |
| December 2025 | MultiChoice delisted from the JSE |
| January 2026 | DStv cuts four channels Three channels expanded to Access subscribers |
| February 2026 | Two-way bill-splitting added, effectively encouraging account sharing |
| April 2026 | DStv prices frozen Showmax shut down and select content migrated to main streaming app |
| June 2026 | Most HBO and Warner Bros. content dropped |
| June to July 2026 | DStv broadcasts and streams all FIFA World Cup matches on Access and Family packages for the first time |
| September 2026 | Four local channels axed Bouquet overhaul with new Starter, Sports, Select, and Movies & Series packages, including alignment of satellite and streaming prices and new sports-focused package |
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