Canal+ has announced a €100 million turnaround plan for MultiChoice, the South African company behind DStv — Africa’s largest pay-TV platform — after a difficult 2025 that saw the broadcaster shed roughly 500,000 subscribers and watch revenue slide 6% to €2.4 billion.
The French media group completed its takeover of MultiChoice in September 2025, delisting the company from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange three months later. It inherited a business under serious strain.
What went wrong
MultiChoice ended 2025 with 14.4 million subscribers, down from 14.9 million the previous year. Adjusted earnings before interest and tax dropped 14% to €159 million. Canal+ described 2025 as “another challenging year,” citing a cost base that had grown unsustainable alongside falling subscriber numbers.
Several forces drove the decline. Currency depreciation in key markets — Nigeria in particular — combined with persistent electricity shortages across parts of the continent made pay-TV subscriptions an easy household expense to cut. Streaming services, meanwhile, continued drawing audiences away from traditional broadcast.
Showmax, MultiChoice’s own streaming platform, compounded the damage rather than cushioning it. Canal+ described one of its key Showmax contracts as an “expensive failure” and recently shut down the arrangement entirely, refocusing resources on the core pay-TV business.
The recovery plan
The €100 million “boost plan,” launching in 2026, targets subscriber growth through four levers.
Content comes first. Canal+ wants to build what it calls the strongest content offering on the African continent, combining international programming with locally produced films, series and sports rights tailored to African audiences.
Distribution and affordability follow. The group plans to subsidise equipment — decoders and satellite dishes — to lower the cost of joining the platform, while simplifying subscription packages so pricing is easier for customers to navigate.
To drive new sign-ups on the ground, Canal+ will recruit more than 1,000 sales staff across MultiChoice’s markets, shifting the business toward what it describes as a sales-focused model.
Cost reduction runs alongside the growth push. Canal+ will introduce a voluntary severance programme for some MultiChoice support staff and restructure Irdeto, the group’s technology and cybersecurity subsidiary. Together, these measures are expected to deliver synergies of more than €250 million by 2026, above the €150 million the company had initially projected. Achieving those savings will cost between €70 million and €100 million.
What to expect in 2026
Canal+ does not expect an immediate turnaround. The company forecasts that MultiChoice’s subscriber base will continue to shrink slightly in 2026, though the rate of decline should slow. Adjusted earnings are projected to recover modestly to around €170 million as cost savings begin to offset lower revenue and rising expenses.
The group also plans a secondary listing on the JSE before June 2026, a move intended to deepen its ties to Africa’s media and entertainment market.
The bigger picture
The MultiChoice story captures a challenge facing traditional broadcasters across Africa. Weaker currencies, rising living costs and the rapid growth of streaming have forced pay-TV companies to rethink business models built for a different era. Canal+ is betting that deeper local content, cheaper access and a stronger sales force can hold the line, but the numbers make clear the ground it needs to recover.
What this means for you
If you’re a DStv subscriber in Kenya or elsewhere in Africa, expect to see more sales activity near you and potentially lower costs for decoders and starter packages. If you work in a MultiChoice support function, watch for formal communication on the voluntary severance programme, including eligibility and package terms. And if you have been considering cutting your subscription, Canal+ is clearly aware, and banking on making it harder for you to justify leaving.
