French media giant Canal+ is weighing options to reduce costs at its newly acquired subsidiary, MultiChoice Group.
One of the options on the table is to reduce live coverage of some major sporting events on DStv’s SuperSport, starting with the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.
This year is the first time since 2018 that South Africa has sent a team to the Winter Olympics. The team is described as the country’s largest-ever winter sports delegation, with 18-year-old Lara Markthaler being the youngest woman in the field.
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Sporting events in trouble
Dstv, a subsidiary of MultiChoice, has decided not to provide subscribers with live coverage of the Olympics in Northern Italy from February 6 to 22.
This decision has weakened SuperSport’s offering, raising questions about whether there are any additional major sporting events subscribers will be unable to access.
Despite being able to watch the Winter Olympics on DStv for the past years, subscribers will have to find alternative platforms because SuperSport does not have the rights to broadcast the global event.
The Citizen has reached out to MultiChoice Group for comment. It will be added once received.
Will DStv cancel rugby?
It is understood that SuperSport no longer handles its own content acquisition; this responsibility now falls to Canal+. The French media giant will decide what South Africans and the rest of Africa will watch from its headquarters in Paris.
DStv needs to be granted the right to broadcast any sporting event. As this will now significantly eat into Canal+’s budget, the company is looking to cut rather than acquire rights to events it deems unnecessary.
It is rumoured that the current Super Rugby Pacific broadcast deal, which concludes at the end of next season, will not be renewed.
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Another approach to sport
When it comes to some of the popular sporting events such as Uefa Champions League, FA Premier League, F1, MotoGP and golf, the French company is seeking to combine its efforts for a sub-Saharan African offer and bid a more ‘modest’ amount for rights.
One concerning issue is the company not informing subscribers about these changes, similar to the Warner Bros. Discovery deal signed at the 11th hour.
The deal saved channels that were scheduled to stop operating as of 1 January 2026, but does not include HBO content for M-Net and Showmax, as it previously did. HBO content has since been removed, and new shows are not accessible on DStv or Showmax.
The fall of Multichoice
DStv has lost 2.8 million subscribers over the past two years, a drop that has significantly weighed on both revenue and trading profit.
After peaking at 17.3 million subscribers across the MultiChoice group in 2023, the total number of subscribers has since fallen to 14.5 million.
MultiChoice labelled the past two financial years as a period of significant financial disruption for economies, corporations and consumers across sub-Saharan Africa, due to challenging macroeconomic factors.
The macroeconomic factors were combined with the impact of structural industry changes in the video entertainment sector, including the rise of piracy, the emergence of streaming services and the growth of social media.
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