{"id":632889,"date":"2026-03-11T15:00:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T13:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=632889"},"modified":"2026-03-11T15:00:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T13:00:58","slug":"dstv-getting-a-new-streaming-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/632889-dstv-getting-a-new-streaming-service.html","title":{"rendered":"DStv getting a new streaming service"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada says the company will bring its over-the-top (OTT) platform, the Canal+ app, to South Africa to replace the “bleeding” Showmax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MultiChoice announced its intention to shut down Showmax on 5 March 2026 and said it would ensure no disruptions for Showmax subscribers during the transition phase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until now, the replacement for Showmax wasn’t known. However, Saada said the Canal+ app will start rolling out in MultiChoice territories, as it has in French-speaking Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“As you know, this was a severely loss-making activity on which we saw no recovery, no matter what was done,” the CEO said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saada explained that Canal+ quickly came to an agreement with Comcast to shut down Showmax as soon as possible, but said he couldn’t share details on the negotiations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Now the priority is to make sure that the people who have chosen this offer end up on something that is an even stronger experience going forward,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explained that Canal+ hasn’t seen the same decay rate of direct-to-home (DTH) satellite customers ditching traditional TV for streaming platforms like Netflix as has been observed in the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We don’t have that because our DTH subs, all of them have access to our OTT platform,” Saada said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“That’s the strategy David Mignot has already rolled out in French-speaking Africa and will be rolling out in the MultiChoice territories.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, Mignot, CEO of Canal+ Africa, said the company will work to ensure that all Showmax content and features are made available on DStv Stream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite MultiChoice positioning Showmax at the centre of its growth strategy in Africa, the streamer has been loss-making in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MultiChoice anticipated the losses, but projected that they would begin to decline in the 2025 financial year. Instead, the bleeding only accelerated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Showmax recorded trading losses of R8.7 billion over the past three financial years, with the streamer reporting a R1.2 billion loss in 2023, a R2.6 billion loss in 2024, and a R4.9 billion loss in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Showmax’s trading losses for the 2023, 2024, and 2025 financial years<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Goodbye Showmax<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In a statement on Thursday, 5 March 2026, Canal+ said the annual losses at Showmax had become unsustainable in an increasingly competitive, capital-intensive streaming environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The decision to phase out Showmax reflects our focus on building a sustainable, competitive business for the long term in an increasingly demanding global streaming environment,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The decision to discontinue Showmax services will not involve any retrenchments. MultiChoice Group will be engaging and supporting employees through various transition options.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Showmax sent an email to subscribers assuring them that there would be no immediate interruption of the service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You can continue streaming as usual, and no action is required from you at this time. We understand that this news may raise questions,” Showmax said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Showmax subscribers are a priority for us, and we are working on plans to ensure clear communication and a smooth transition when the time comes.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It added that it would share further details well in advance, including timelines and any future steps, if required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canal+’s decision to shut down Showmax came after months of blunt assessments from executives about the streamer’s financial performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In January 2026, Saada said Showmax was not a commercial success and described its poor performance as unsurprising, given MultiChoice’s excessive investment in marketing, content, and technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A similar comment came from Mignot in February. He confirmed that Showmax could not continue in its current form, adding that the business was not financially viable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Canal+ will also ensure all Showmax content and features are made available on DStv Stream.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341076,"featured_media":573426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[21383,103723,101558,88200,92258,475,32140],"class_list":["post-632889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-broadcasting","tag-canal","tag-canal-app","tag-david-mignot","tag-dstv-stream","tag-maxime-saada","tag-multichoice","tag-showmax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632889"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341076"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632889"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":632907,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632889\/revisions\/632907"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}