Its remarks come five years after industry regulator Icasa proposed interventions to break MultiChoice\u2019s dominance in several key areas.<\/p>\n
The regulator launched an inquiry, which concluded that MultiChoice dominates<\/a> South Africa\u2019s subscription broadcasting market in several key areas.<\/p>\n It proposed several remedies, including forcing the unbundling of certain high-value sports rights and limiting the number of Hollywood studios with which a broadcaster may have exclusive agreements.<\/p>\n It also proposed that satellite decoders should be interoperable with multiple services.<\/p>\n MultiChoice hit back at Icasa\u2019s draft findings, launching legal action<\/a> against the regulator.<\/p>\n It warned that over-regulating South African broadcasters would put them at a major disadvantage to international streaming giants Netflix and YouTube.<\/p>\n Two years went by, and Icasa reopened the inquiry.<\/p>\n During its 2021 presentation, MultiChoice said global streaming video services were their biggest competitors and \u201can existential competitive threat.\u201d<\/p>\n Icasa seemed to take MultiChoice\u2019s submission to heart and rebooted its subscription TV market inquiry in May 2022.<\/p>\n Since then, MultiChoice has been coy whenever asked about the threat services like Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video pose.<\/p>\n However, it is clearly not sticking its head in the sand.<\/p>\n MultiChoice added the ability for subscribers to add Netflix to their DStv bills when it launched its Explora Ultra decoder<\/a> in 2020.<\/p>\n It also has a partnership with Disney+. DStv Rewards members were given three months of free access to the service, although this caused some billing problems<\/a> later.<\/p>\n Responding to MyBroadband\u2019s questions, MultiChoice acknowledged that streaming services are disruptive and said it was increasing its investment in local content to remain competitive.<\/p>\n \u201cMultiChoice is the biggest funder of local content in Africa and produces thousands of hours of local content annually, further expanding our local content library,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n \u201cOur customers love to watch stories that resonate with them,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n MultiChoice has also been aligning with international media giants to help stand its ground against streaming services.<\/p>\n This includes a deal with Comcast\u2019s NBCUniversal that saw the American broadcaster take a 30% stake of Showmax<\/a>.<\/p>\n Showmax was rebuilt from the ground up on NBCUniversal\u2019s Peacock platform and relaunched in January<\/a>.<\/p>\n MultiChoice told investors that Showmax will hit $1 billion<\/a> (R18 billion) in revenue by 2028, with a trading profit breakeven target in its 2027 full-year results.<\/p>\n Screenshot of Showmax 2.0 user interface shown at media event on 15 January 2024<\/p><\/div>\n In addition to its NBCUniversal deal, MultiChoice has also been experiencing a creeping takeover from French media conglomerate Groupe Canal+.<\/p>\n Canal+ has steadily bought up MultiChoice stock on the open market since October 2020 and hit a 35% threshold at the beginning of the year, triggering a mandatory buyout offer<\/a>.<\/p>\n After some wrangling from MultiChoice and a reprimand from the Takeover Regulation Panel, Canal+ offered R125 per share, valuing the company at over R55 billion.<\/p>\n The buyout will cost Canal+ over R30 billion in cash, and the company has continued buying MultiChoice shares while its offer is being considered.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Showmax-2-launch.jpg\")
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