Advanced Television

Canal+ facing challenges in South Africa

March 13, 2026

By Chris Forrester

Canal+ is making some major changes to its new MultiChoice/DStv acquisition for African subscribers. Having recently announced it is closing its Showmax streaming service (“an expensive failure” said the company) and an intention to help boost cost savings overall by some €250 million this year alone, C+ is now targeting other cost centres, not least production.

But it is an uphill battle. MultiChoice’s overall performance has not yet showed signs of a real turnaround under Canal+’s ownership so far. Revenue for 2025 fell 6 per cent to €2.4-billion and the subscriber base shrank from 14.9 million to 14.4 million.

Canal+ has introduced a voluntary redundancy scheme for staff and a reported restructuring of its Irdeto encryption and technology partner, and it is planning a new listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange around mid-year.

On the upside, Canal+ is committed to investing €100 million into its MultiChoice/DStv asset.

The investment into Africa, announced alongside Canal+’s first full-year results since completing the MultiChoice acquisition, comes as the South African-headquartered business saw its subscriber base shrink to 14.4 million over the 12 months to 31 December 2025.

The €100-million investment plan is structured around four pillars:

· Assembling what Canal+ calls the “best content on the African continent” by combining local productions with global partnerships;
· Simplifying and repricing commercial offers;
· Building what it describes as a “powerful acquisition engine” by lowering entry costs through equipment subsidies and expanding distribution; and
· Driving operational efficiency at scale.

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