MultiChoice’s new owner, Groupe Canal+, is planning several significant changes at DStv to arrest the decline of the African pay-TV giant.

The French media conglomerate, which gained control of MultiChoice in September, illustrated the extent of the problems at DStv in a recent investor presentation.

It showed that MultiChoice was not only declining in subscriber numbers but also in other key metrics, such as revenue and trading profit.

To return MultiChoice to growth, Canal+ told shareholders that it would implement a multifaceted turnaround strategy at the broadcaster.

Canal+ said it would reinvest in subscriber acquisition to capture growth opportunities in the underpenetrated African pay-TV market.

It will offset higher subscriber acquisition costs through synergies and a granular focus on optimal distribution.

This will be accompanied by ambitious growth targets, and Canal+ said it would incentivise teams accordingly, applying a “no small market” philosophy for the continent.

This means Canal+ will not view any market on the African continent as too small to invest in for future growth.

Besides driving subscriber acquisition to increase revenue, Canal+ stated that it would develop and implement plans to generate meaningful incremental revenues and revenue synergies across the business.

Additionally, Canal+ said it would enhance MultiChoice’s customer value proposition. It will strengthen the content line-up by sharing material across platforms and apply marketing best practices.

Canal+ also said it would address the cost side of the business. It plans to reset the cost base for a sustainable and profitable pay-TV business, in contrast with past cost savings plans aimed solely at short-term profitability.

It stated that it would deliver meaningful cost synergies, with an initial focus on content and technology costs, especially large cost items at a global scale.

Cutting costs at MultiChoice

Within weeks of taking control of MultiChoice, Canal+ began its cost-cutting drive by suspending payments to its suppliers and demanding 20% discounts on invoices.

This resulted in supply disruptions at the company, including a temporary toilet paper shortage at the company’s Randburg headquarters.

It should be noted that the new CEO of the Canal+ African operations, David Mignot, relocated to Johannesburg and was not insulated from these shocks.

Queried about why it adopted such an absolute approach to negotiating with suppliers, MultiChoice said it was part of its efforts over the past two years to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

“This has continued following the completion of the Canal+ merger, and MultiChoice is engaging with suppliers in this regard,” a spokesperson said.

“Managing spend in the business is important to ensure that MultiChoice continues to play a key role in the South African and African broadcasting ecosystem over the long term.”

MultiChoice said these adjustments would allow it to support numerous industries and fulfil its extensive public interest commitments made to the Competition Tribunal for its merger with Canal+.

However, among the conditions Canal+ agreed to was procuring local content from historically disadvantaged persons and small businesses.

MyBroadband understands that the company soon retreated from its hard-line stance and released payments to SMME suppliers who said they were severely affected by the invoice freeze.

MultiChoice in decline

The reason Canal+ had to implement aggressive cost-cutting measures is the dire state of MultiChoice’s finances.

MultiChoice reported losses in two of its last three financial years. In its 2023 and 2024 financial years, it reported a cumulative loss of R7 billion.

During 2024, MultiChoice liabilities also surpassed its assets, meaning it was technically insolvent. That changed in the 2025 financial year, when it also reported a profit of R2.02 billion.

However, it is still not out of the woods. Much of that profit was from a once-off transaction — selling 60% of its insurance business to Sanlam.

Operating profit declined from R7.08 billion in 2024 to R4.66 billion in 2025, due to a 9% decline in revenue, driven by 11% lower subscription revenues resulting from 1.2 million fewer customers.

Trading profit also declined by 49%, primarily due to a R2.3 billion increase in trading losses at Showmax and foreign currency revenue losses of R5.2 billion.

Over the last two years, MultiChoice has incurred approximately R4 billion in development and content acquisition costs for Showmax.

The company has not published subscriber figures for Showmax, but has reported percentage subscriber growth. Despite substantial growth since its relaunch, its revenues were down in the last financial year.

Unfortunately, MultiChoice is not the only broadcasting player in Africa cutting costs. Key channel supplier Paramount Skydance has also embarked on a cost reduction exercise and shut down Paramount Africa.

This will result in DStv losing four channels come New Year’s Day, namely BET, MTV Base, CBS Reality, and CBS Justice.

CBS Reality and CBS Justice were provided through a joint venture between AMC Networks and CBS, which Paramount Skydance owns.

However, despite these channel losses, Canal+ has assured that it will bring more and better content to the DStv platform.

Mignot has stated that, in addition to a strong slate of American partners, the company’s library of European content is unrivalled, and that much of this will soon be available on DStv.

According to Mignot, Canal+ already creates 4,000 hours of African content in up to 15 languages each year.

This will be added to MultiChoice’s 6,000 hours of annual locally-produced content. “Combined, we will provide roughly 10,000 hours per year in 20 to 35 languages,” Mignot said.

“So, in a 10- to 15-year period, we are building up a catalogue of more than 100,000 to 150,000 hours, and then we will be able to make that content travel.”

The final result will be an extensive content catalogue available to a bigger audience through dubbing and rescripting.

Armed with such an extensive catalogue of locally-produced content, Mignot said Canal+ plans to sell the top movies and shows to the rest of the world.

He explained that South African-made films and series were part of the plan to export content through StudioCanal, its financing, production, and distribution entity. (My Board Band)

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