French media company Canal+ has announced plans to reduce the cost of DStv and GOtv equipment as part of a broader strategy to grow the subscriber base of MultiChoice Group, the African pay television operator it acquired in September 2025. The move forms part of a €100 million turnaround package designed to reverse steep subscriber and revenue losses recorded across MultiChoice’s African markets in 2025.
The deal was finalised on September 19, 2025, and represents the largest transaction in Canal+’s history, creating one of the world’s largest media and entertainment companies. Following acceptance of the Canal+ offer by shareholders holding more than 90 percent of MultiChoice’s issued ordinary shares, Canal+ secured a 94.39 percent stake. MultiChoice shares were subsequently suspended from trading on October 27, 2025, and delisted from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on December 10, 2025. The combined group now serves over 40 million subscribers across nearly 70 countries in Africa, Europe, and Asia, and employs about 17,000 people. The deal was valued at approximately $3 billion, with MultiChoice shares acquired at 125 rand each.
According to Canal+’s 2025 financial results, MultiChoice ended the year with 14.4 million subscribers, down from 14.9 million recorded a year earlier. Revenue fell 6 percent to €2.4 billion, while adjusted earnings before interest and tax declined 14 percent to €159 million. anal+ attributed the downturn to macroeconomic pressures including currency devaluation in Nigeria, power shortages, rising operational costs, and what it described as a difficult and expensive transition to online streaming, particularly the failure of Showmax. The company also acknowledged that earlier attempts to stabilise the business by cutting subscriber acquisition subsidies and raising prices had made the situation worse rather than better. Canal+ warned that MultiChoice could face an additional negative financial impact of about €140 million in 2026 due to the continuing decline in subscribers and rising costs.
To reverse MultiChoice’s fortunes, Canal+ announced a €100 million growth boost plan built around four pillars: local African content production, simplified commercial offers, a subscriber acquisition push backed by equipment subsidies, and the recruitment of more than 1,000 salespeople across MultiChoice markets, alongside group wide operational excellence. Central to the plan is making DStv and GOtv more affordable to access for new customers. Lower entry costs are being pursued through subsidies on equipment such as decoders, with the goal of making it easier for new customers to join the platform. The high upfront cost of hardware has long been identified as a barrier to subscription growth in many African markets, where large portions of the population remain priced out of pay television. Canal+ also intends to simplify MultiChoice’s commercial offering. Currently, MultiChoice offers up to 17 different packages along with several decoder options. Canal+ believes this complexity makes it harder to market the product effectively, and the plan is to streamline packages and create clearer options for customers.
Canal+ said it will accelerate subscriber growth by lowering entry costs through equipment subsidies, expanding its distribution network, and reinforcing its commercial organisation with the recruitment of more than 1,000 salespeople on the ground across MultiChoice markets. As part of the push, Canal+ plans to recruit more than a thousand salespeople across MultiChoice’s markets in Africa, shifting the business towards what it calls a “sales-focused model.” In many African markets, pay television subscriptions have historically depended heavily on physical sales agents who install equipment and register customers in person, a channel MultiChoice had been scaling back in recent years.
The turnaround plan also involves significant internal restructuring. Canal+ said it will initiate a voluntary severance plan at MultiChoice across support functions and launch a restructuring programme at Irdeto, MultiChoice’s technology and cybersecurity subsidiary. Canal+ has accelerated its synergy plan, now expecting to achieve more than €250 million in adjusted EBIT savings in 2026, up sharply from the €150 million it had previously guided. Key drivers behind the acceleration include the shutdown of Showmax, structural cost reductions at MultiChoice, property rationalization, and the pooling of resources linked to a planned JSE listing of Canal+ before the end of June 2026.
Alongside the equipment subsidy and sales drive, Canal+ has departed from MultiChoice’s long standing practice of annual subscription fee increases. For the first time in years, MultiChoice did not implement its customary April price increase for DStv and GOtv subscribers in 2026, a decision confirmed by MultiChoice Group CEO David Mignot, signaling that stabilising and growing the subscriber base has now replaced short-term revenue extraction as the company’s top priority.
MultiChoice is expected to see a slight revenue decline in 2026, but adjusted EBIT is forecast to rise to around €170 million as the turnaround measures begin to take effect. The combined Canal+ and MultiChoice group reported revenues of €8.665 billion for 2025, with 42.3 million subscribers across operations in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Canal+ has indicated it will outline a detailed integration strategy, including operational synergies and growth plans, during a strategic update scheduled for the first quarter of 2026.
