{"id":649715,"date":"2026-05-26T08:00:42","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T06:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=649715"},"modified":"2026-05-26T08:01:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T06:01:32","slug":"communications-minister-explains-his-silence-on-multichoice-shutting-down-showmax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/649715-communications-minister-explains-his-silence-on-multichoice-shutting-down-showmax.html","title":{"rendered":"Communications minister explains his silence on MultiChoice shutting down Showmax"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Communications minister Solly Malatsi said his department planned to engage with Groupe Canal+ over its shutdown of video streaming service Showmax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Malatsi’s commitment came in response to a question in Parliament, after the development drew the attention of lawmakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent months, various Members of Parliament criticised the company over the decision, citing concerns over its impact on jobs in the local film production industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canal+ discontinued the struggling platform at the end of April 2026, after it had incurred over R8.7 billion in trading losses since its relaunch in 2024. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies launched its own investigation<\/a> into the shutdown in March 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The probe aimed to establish whether Canal+ violated the transaction terms it had agreed to with the Competition Commission to acquire MultiChoice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These included several commitments regarding direct jobs and support for the broader industry’s content providers and suppliers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EFF MP Sixolise Gcilishe argued that Showmax was crucial to South Africa’s national identity, pushing local narratives and providing a platform for South African producers, actors, writers, and technical teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Its discontinuation poses a serious risk of diminishing a critical distribution avenue for local content, particularly resulting in a cultural landscape overly influenced by international programmes,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an appearance before the committee in March 2026, the Competition Commission said it would investigate whether Canal+ breached the takeover conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More recently, Gcilishe’s fellow party member, Sinawo Tambo,\u00a0asked Malatsi\u00a0whether the Department of Communications and Technologies (DCDT) had engaged Canal+ over the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Malatsi explained his department had not engaged with MultiChoice since all matters related to the merged entity required regulatory independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Malatsi said the issue was within the realm of the Competition Commission and the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa’s oversight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It is these regulatory authorities that will pronounce on the impacts, once they have engaged in impact assessments based on the commitment made before the merger was approved,” Malatsi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More jobs in jeopardy \u2014 but sales staff set to increase<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nonetheless, Malatsi said the department still aimed to engage with Canal+ as part of its oversight to ensure the company had complied with the conditions of the merger and safeguarded local productions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Groupe Canal+ agreed to a three-year retrenchment moratorium for directly employed MultiChoice South Africa staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If it retrenches workers in South Africa before September 2028, the company risks significant administrative penalties from the commission, including up to 10% of its annual turnover and exports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Canal+ has already begun reducing<\/a> MultiChoice’s staff at its head office through voluntary severance packages as part of its cost-cutting strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it tiptoed around Showmax’s performance in the early days after acquiring MultiChoice, Canal+ became more blunt as its annual financial results neared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its 2026 financial results presentation, Canal+ labelled the service an “expensive” failure and argued that its closure would be better for the company in the long term.<\/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

It should also be noted that the Competition Commission’s conditions excluded any commitments on jobs in MultiChoice’s markets outside South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canal+ previously confirmed that it had begun restructuring MultiChoice cybersecurity subsidiary Irdeto, which is based in the Netherlands. Such restructuring often involves retrenching staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, Canal+ said it planned to hire over 1,000 more sales staff in South Africa and other countries to help turn MultiChoice around. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Communications minister Solly Malatsix explained why his department has not yet engaged with Canal+ over its shutdown of Showmax in April.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341042,"featured_media":644098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[21383,3222,66538,105479,66933,18090,67163,105480,18706,100690,32140,76862,62312],"class_list":["post-649715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-broadcasting","tag-canal","tag-competition-commission","tag-department-of-communications-and-digital-technologies-dcdt","tag-dstv-jobs","tag-groupe-canal","tag-independent-communications-authority-of-south-africa-icasa","tag-minister-of-communications-and-digital-technologies","tag-multichoice-jobs","tag-parliament","tag-portfolio-committee-meeting-on-communications-and-digital-technologies","tag-showmax","tag-solly-malatsi","tag-video-streaming-services"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649715"}],"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\/341042"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649715"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":649806,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649715\/revisions\/649806"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}