Canal+ to Shut Down Showmax After MultiChoice Acquisition
French media conglomerate Canal+ has moved to discontinue the South African streaming platform Showmax after completing its acquisition of MultiChoice, Africa’s dominant pay-TV provider, pointing to persistent financial losses as the key factor behind the decision.
The announcement, detailed in a statement from Canal+ on Thursday, marks the end of Showmax’s decade-long run as a dedicated over-the-top service focused on African content. Launched by MultiChoice in 2015, Showmax expanded to at least 44 African countries, offering a library of local films, TV series, and international programming tailored to regional audiences.
“MultiChoice, part of CANAL+ SA … today announces the forthcoming discontinuation of the Showmax service,” the Canal+ statement read, emphasizing that “the substantial annual losses experienced by the Showmax business have proved unsustainable.”
According to the statement, the closure will not result in any job losses, with MultiChoice set to introduce its own “in-house large-scale streaming platform” to serve both African and international customers. Showmax reinforced this in an email to subscribers, explaining the step as necessary to secure “long-term sustainability in an increasingly competitive streaming environment.”
The decision follows Canal+’s buyout of MultiChoice in September 2025, a transaction valued at around $3 billion that consolidated operations across 70 countries in Africa, Europe, and Asia. The merged entity now employs 17,000 people and caters to more than 40 million subscribers, positioning it as a major global player in media and entertainment. Canal+ described the deal as its largest-ever transaction.
Prior to the acquisition, Canal+ held leadership in French-speaking African markets, while MultiChoice dominated English- and Portuguese-speaking regions through its DStv and GOtv services.
MultiChoice’s roots trace back to 1985, when it began as M-Net, one of the first subscription television services outside the United States, initially providing terrestrial pay-TV in South Africa. By 1995, the company had split its operations, forming MultiChoice to handle subscriber management, signal distribution, and expansion into sub-Saharan Africa, including early offices in Namibia, Botswana, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, and Zimbabwe. That same year, MultiChoice launched DStv, the continent’s first digital satellite service and only the second globally after a U.S. predecessor, marking a shift from analogue broadcasting.
The company grew rapidly, reaching milestones like one million subscribers in South Africa by 2005 and introducing innovations such as personal video recorders, high-definition channels, and interactive television. MultiChoice’s expansion into Nigeria in 1994 as a joint venture laid the groundwork for its pan-African presence, where it now serves millions through premium channels covering entertainment, sports, news, and education.
Showmax emerged in 2015 amid the global rise of streaming, positioning itself as Africa’s answer to Netflix by prioritizing local content in languages like Afrikaans, isiZulu, SeTswana, and Sesotho. It quickly expanded to over 70 markets, including Eastern Europe, and by 2017 had achieved a 204% subscriber increase through targeted marketing and data-driven strategies, boosting retention to 71% and win-back rates by 12%. A 2023 partnership with Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Sky led to a 2024 relaunch with a new app, enhanced content slate—including over 1,300 hours of originals—and tiered plans like a mobile-only Premier League option for R69 monthly. By early 2024, Showmax had migrated nearly 100% of its customer base to the updated platform, with 88% reactivation within weeks.
Despite these efforts, Showmax faced mounting challenges in Africa’s competitive streaming landscape, where over 560 services operated by 2025, though only 2% of the 60,000 unique titles available were fully local productions. The continent’s over-the-top market has grown steadily, with South Africa alone projected to add 1.4 million subscribers by 2029, reaching $302 million in consumer revenue at a 6% compound annual growth rate. Affordability remains a barrier, with limited ad-supported models compared to global peers, and Africa’s entertainment and media sector overall expanding at a 5.3% compound annual growth rate through 2029, outpacing the global average of 3.7%.
Canal+’s acquisition, finalized after securing 94.39% of MultiChoice shares by October 2025, included a compulsory buyout of remaining stakes, leading to MultiChoice’s delisting from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The integration aims to leverage MultiChoice’s 14.5 million African subscribers alongside Canal+’s strengths, potentially doubling down on high-budget local productions like “Shaka iLembe” and “Spinners.” As Africa’s youngest population—over 70% under 30 in sub-Saharan regions—drives demand for digital content, the shift underscores broader trends toward consolidated platforms amid economic pressures and infrastructure gaps.