{"id":654015,"date":"2026-06-14T09:59:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T07:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=654015"},"modified":"2026-06-15T10:37:53","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T08:37:53","slug":"dstv-owner-cuts-hundreds-of-jobs-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/654015-dstv-owner-cuts-hundreds-of-jobs-in-south-africa.html","title":{"rendered":"DStv owner cuts hundreds of jobs in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

DStv owner Canal+ has shed approximately 10% of MultiChoice’s South African staff through a voluntary severance programme (VSP), the Sunday Times reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unnamed industry sources told the publication that around 312 out of its 3,400 South African staff accepted the offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A further 343 employees outside of South Africa reportedly also accepted the offer, bringing the total reduction to 655, or about 12% of MultiChoice’s total African workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, a source close to the matter said the figures were compiled before the programme ended and would likely still change due to last-minute applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The VSP is designed to support the long-term sustainability and growth of MultiChoice, and participation is entirely voluntary,” MultiChoice told the Sunday Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of the Competition Commission’s conditions for its takeover of MultiChoice, Canal+ is not allowed to retrench employees in its South African operation until mid-2028. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, its turnaround plan for MultiChoice includes cutting South African staff through the VSP, as well as non-voluntary retrenchments in its other markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MultiChoice Group, a Canal+ company, told MyBroadband that the VSP was designed to support MultiChoice’s long-term sustainability and growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Participation is entirely voluntary. As this is an internal process, we will not be providing detailed, ongoing commentary on the specific aspects of the programme,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Competition Commission has also launched an investigation to determine whether Canal+’s shutdown of Showmax may be violating another condition of its acquisition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canal+ is required to maintain consistent, high-level funding for local South African general entertainment and sports content. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Members of Parliament have expressed concern over the impact that Showmax’s shutdown would have on the local film industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The video streaming service’s plethora of original productions, including popular series like Shaka Ilembe<\/em>, Blood Psalms<\/em>, and Die Kantoor<\/em>, has supported thousands of jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canal+ is planning substantial staff additions in one area. It plans to hire 1,000 field staff to drum up sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this area, the company also intends to expand its point-of-sale network, grow its installer network, and enhance marketing and branding across the continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Live sports rights remain a key focus<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One area where Canal+ is unlikely to make significant cost cuts<\/a> is in its spending on live sports broadcasting rights for Supersport, which CEO Maxime Saada said Canal+ “loves.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The broadcaster has expanded coverage of all 104 FIFA World Cup matches to two of its more affordable packages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday, 3 June 2026, the company announced it had signed rights agreements for the Rugby World Cup, Vodacom United Rugby Championship, and the Premier Soccer League.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company confirmed that it had reached an agreement with World Rugby to broadcast the Men’s Rugby World Cup 2027 and Women’s Rugby World Cup 2029, live on SuperSport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The agreement included World Rugby’s men’s 15s competitions: the World Rugby Junior World Championship, which recently expanded to feature 16 teams, and the World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The announcement came alongside Canal+’s listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) after it took control of MultiChoice in September 2025 and completed the takeover in December 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Confirming these broadcast rights puts the seal on an incredible occasion for us as the Canal+ Group, alongside the MultiChoice Group,” said Canal+ Africa CEO David Mignot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is another firm commitment that we are putting our subscribers first by ensuring they never miss out on the best sports content from the continent and from across the globe.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canal+ said DStv and GOtv subscribers should look forward to seeing South Africa and Zimbabwe play in the Rugby World Cup from 1 October to 13 November 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The 11th edition signals a major evolution for the Rugby World Cup, expanding to 24 teams and featuring a new format with a round of 16 for the first time,” the company said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Australia is hosting the tournament, and Zimbabwe is returning to the competition for the first time since 1991.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MultiChoice has reportedly shed over 300 South African staff through its voluntary severance programme.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341076,"featured_media":640144,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[21383,3222,85,105479,66933,48496,92258,475,105480,32140,76662,31408],"class_list":["post-654015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-broadcasting","tag-canal","tag-competition-commission","tag-dstv","tag-dstv-jobs","tag-groupe-canal","tag-irdeto","tag-maxime-saada","tag-multichoice","tag-multichoice-jobs","tag-showmax","tag-south-african-jobs","tag-voluntary-severance-packages"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654015"}],"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=654015"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":654100,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654015\/revisions\/654100"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}