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 […]

South Africa’s DStv subscribers will not face an annual price increase, marking a significant strategic shift under new owner Canal+. In an interview with local press, newly appointed MultiChoice Group CEO David Mignot confirmed that the company will not raise DStv prices in April, breaking with a longstanding tradition of annual increases that had become […]

SpaceX’s Starlink direct-to-home broadband system has 524,863 users in Spain, ahead of longstanding operators such as Adamo and PTV. But in South Africa, Starlink has hit a roadblock. The Spanish data comes from APNIC statistics reported by Spanish web-site Banda Ancha, and converts into Spain’s sixth-largest ISP. Starlink does not release country-specific numbers but Spain’s […]

Canal+, which now controls South Africa-based pay-TV operator MultiChoice, has reportedly committed to trimming around Rand 7.5 billion (€400m) in its annual costs over the next few years. MultiChoice’s expenses budget topped Rand 46 billion in 2025 but recent renegotiated content supply deals will already have started to trim those fees. MultiChoice spent Rand 20.4 […]

South Africa’s public broadcaster SABC says it has no funds to adequately cover an upcoming local government election. The state’s Treasury has turned down a request from SABC for 120 million Rand (€6.2m) for dedicated funding. SABC is appealing to South African parliament’s Communications Committee to intervene. “Without funding, the SABC does not have the […]

February 13th will see the launch in South Africa of Digital Radio using the Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) format. Aldred Dreyer, chairman of the DRM South Africa Group, the organisation that’s spearheading the development, roll-out and promotion of DRM radio in the country, has confirmed the trial will commence which follows the granting of a […]

South Africa’s communications regulator ICASA has published draft regulations designed to tighten pricing operations at Sentech, which is the government-owned transmission business. Sentech handles the nation’s transmission of broadcast TV and radio signals. The publication of the new draft rules, in the government’s official Gazette, follows on from a one-year investigation into Sentech’s pricing structure. […]

South African–born Elon Musk has worked hard over the past few months in attempts to gain permission to launch SpaceX’s Starlink broadband–by–satellite service in South Africa. But far from nearing those permissions, there are signs that he still has a mountain to climb. Local reports say that political party Rise Mzansi’s leader, Songezo Zibi, and […]

A fall of a few thousand in any market for a pay-TV organisation is a worry. Multiply that to a total of 2.8 million cancellations over the past two years and it shows that South Africa’s DStv, even under its new Canal+ owners, has a mountain to climb. But the numbers are worrying. Back in […]

South Africa has amended its ‘Black Economic Empowerment’ (BEE) rules, allowing Starlink to operate via rural school internet investments instead of insisting on the traditional – and to date rigid – 30 per cent equity stake for local people and businesses. The decision could pave the way for rapid satellite broadband rollout amid digital divide […]