{"id":645752,"date":"2026-05-07T10:05:40","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T08:05:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=645752"},"modified":"2026-05-07T10:10:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T08:10:39","slug":"south-africans-say-goodbye-to-dstv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/645752-south-africans-say-goodbye-to-dstv.html","title":{"rendered":"South Africans say goodbye to DStv"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

MultiChoice\u2019s revenue continues to plummet as South Africans cut the cord and move from DStv to competing streaming services like Netflix and YouTube.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 28 April 2026, Canal+, which acquired MultiChoice at the end of 2025, provided a trading update for the three months ended 31 March 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MultiChoice\u2019s revenue declined from 657 million euros (R12.7 billion) in Q1 2025 to 617 million euros (R11.9 billion) in Q1 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMultiChoice Group revenue decreased, driven by lower non-subscription revenue,\u201d Canal+ said in its trading statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lower revenue drivers include higher subsidies on equipment to new subscribers, content sales, and commissions on insurance business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAdvertising revenue benefited from the SA20 cricket and AFCON tournaments. Subscription revenue was almost flat on a constant currency basis,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MultiChoice\u2019s struggle to grow revenue is not new. The company has struggled to retain DStv customers and create new revenue streams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canal+\u2019s 2025 Annual Report showed that MultiChoice\u2019s DStv subscriber base declined from 14.9 million to 14.4 million over the last financial year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It explained that the broader satellite Pay-TV market is declining, driven by a shift toward streaming services offering lower-cost plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, economic constraints and the expansion of broadband in Africa have accelerated piracy, which negatively impacts subscriber numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simply put, people across Africa are moving away from DStv because more affordable streaming services are available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Free entertainment options, including YouTube and pirated content, are also showing strong growth due to faster and more affordable broadband access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rapid decline in DStv subscribers in South Africa<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Although Canal+ has not provided data on South African customers, MultiChoice\u2019s previous reports showed a rapid decline in local DStv subscribers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MultiChoice\u2019s integrated annual report for the year that ended 31 March 2025 shed light on the extent of the DStv exodus in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of DStv subscribers in South Africa declined by 589,000 in the 2025 financial year, representing an overall base decline of 8%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was striking was that all segments of the DStv subscriber base declined, indicating an accelerating trend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DStv Premium base, which included Compact Plus, declined by 96,000 subscribers. This represents a year-on-year decline of 9%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe continue to see a decline in this base driven by customer affordability and competition from third-party streaming services,\u201d MultiChoice said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MultiChoice\u2019s middle-market subscribers declined by 99,000, representing a year-on-year reduction of 5%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It explained that the DStv Compact base is most exposed to mid-market consumer affordability challenges, including high levels of indebtedness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mass-market tier was down by 394,000, a year-on-year decline of 9%. This is the second year it has experienced a decline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MultiChoice said Access customers were affected by load shedding and negative macroeconomic pressures, such as inflation and high unemployment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was even more striking was that the number of DStv subscribers declined from 8.18 million in 2021 to 7.02 million in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MultiChoice reported subscriber declines each year from 2021 to 2025, and it was likely that this trend continued into 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The hard task of turning MultiChoice around<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In its 2025 annual report, former MultiChoice CEO Calvo Mawela put on a brave face, saying the organisation had shown perseverance and endured turbulent times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have made critical strides in optimising our operation and rethinking some elements of our strategy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mawela added that this ensured that they laid the groundwork for a sustainable and prosperous future for MultiChoice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, based on Canal+\u2019s latest reports, this strategy has been binned, and a new one has been implemented to turn MultiChoice around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe first initiatives of the MultiChoice turnaround plan have been launched, including strengthening the commercial engine and recruiting new sales teams,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada said that the integration of MultiChoice Group is progressing well, with the top management team appointed and in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe boost plan has been launched, commercial operations are being strengthened, and recruiting new sales personnel to expand distribution has begun,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To stem the decline in DStv subscribers, MultiChoice has suspended the historic commercial policy of annual price increases in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of subsidies offered to new customers has been increased. This is a proactive strategy to attract new DStv subscribers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canal+ also discontinued Showmax on 30 April 2026. This is significant, as the previous MultiChoice management said Showmax was core to its future growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new owner made Showmax\u2019s content available on DStv\u2019s streaming platform and migrated Showmax subscribers to DStv Stream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a last measure to bolster the finances, Canal+ is implementing a MultiChoice Group Voluntary Severance Plan. This is aimed at reducing the MultiChoice headcount.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MultiChoice\u2019s revenue continues to plummet as South Africans cut the cord and move from DStv to competing streaming services like Netflix and YouTube.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":640135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[24196,21383,85,92258,475,32140],"class_list":["post-645752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-broadcasting","tag-calvo-mawela","tag-canal","tag-dstv","tag-maxime-saada","tag-multichoice","tag-showmax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645752"}],"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\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645752"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645752\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":645872,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645752\/revisions\/645872"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}