It does not look like French media giant Canal+ will start enjoying the benefits of acquiring DStv’s parent company, MultiChoice.
Days after announcing that ShowMax will be cancelled, Canal+ says MultiChoice will suffer a loss of about €140 million (around R2.9 billion) in 2026 because its subscriber base is not growing and costs are rising.
The French media giant announced its unaudited preliminary results for the full year ended 31 December 2025 on Wednesday morning.
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MultiChoice’s future under Canal+
Canal+ acquired MultiChoice in 2025, and it has been making changes to the group since then in an attempt to reform it back to its former glory.
Canal+ says it will invest around €100m (around R1.9 billion) in 2026 to support MultiChoice’s growth-boost plan, set to gain more subscribers to DStv.
MultiChoice’s subscriptions are down to 14.4 million, from 14.9 million in 2024. Canal+ said the company faced challenges, including currency devaluation in Nigeria, from 2023 onwards.
Not forgetting the expensive failure of Showmax, and strong inflation across most cost items, especially content, which negatively impacted the DStv-owner’s profitability.
MultiChoice worsens
“MultiChoice addressed the situation through short -term measures, in particular reduction in subscriber acquisition subsidies and price increases, but these had a negative impact on the subscriber base, worsening the original profitability issues,” said Canal+.
This trend saw DStv-owner’s revenue decreasing by €142 million (more than R2.6 billion) in 2025 due to a decline in the subscriber base.
Looking ahead, Canal+ said it expects MultiChoice to save money faster after offloading Showmax.
“Due to recent initiatives (for example, the discontinuation of Showmax), delivery of cost synergies is accelerated and is expected to reach €250m (more than R4.7 billion) in 2026, up from €150m (more than R2.8 billion) announced in January communication,” said the French media giant.
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Inside R1.9 billion plan to save DStv-owner
Canal+ explains that the plan to return MultiChoice to profitability is structured around four strategic pillars:
•Best content on the African continent: The Group will offer content propositions on the continent, combining joint productions, in -house channels and global partnerships, with a focus on local African content produced annually and key sports rights remaining a cornerstone.
• Simplified and appealing commercial offers: Commercial propositions will be simplified and strengthened, with clearer pricing, streamlined branding and more effective marketing to enhance customer value
• Powerful acquisition engine: The group 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
• Operational excellence at scale: The transformation will be underpinned by group -wide operational excellence, implementing practices across countries, standardising the operating model, capturing synergies from the combined group’s scale, reinforcing anti-piracy capabilities and shifting the MultiChoice model to a sales -focused model.
Canal+ plans to list on the JSE
Maxime Saada, CEO of Canal+, said, “Our European business is 15% more profitable, and we extended our agreement with UEFA in France, securing this key sports right for four additional seasons.
“In Europe, we will continue to focus on improving profitability. In Africa, we will ensure we are well-positioned to benefit from the continent’s growth potential and turn around MultiChoice.
“We expect to list Canal+ on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) soon, marking a significant moment for our company.”
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