Illustrative image | MultiChoice. (Photo: Luba Lesolle / Gallo Images) | Canal+. (Photo: Wikimedia) The entity formerly known as Multichoice is due for a haircut. It’s actually more of a head shaving and it is a recognised part of the Zulu wedding. Four months after the union with Canal+, the former princess of the African broadcast market became the subject of parliamentary questions.
Along these same timelines, Canal+ also released its annual results, and the Showmax goat was slaughtered in preparation for the occasion.
The numbers show that the French got quite a bit more than even this journalist originally thought they would – outright dominance on the continent and near-endless sales potential.
But behind the shiny ring and the €8.66-billion (R170-billion) combined revenue figure for the new 42.3 million subscriber giant, there are gaping, controversial holes and a whole lot of debt.
Who’s calling the shots?
It was a simple question posed by parliamentary communications and digital technologies committee chairperson Khusela Diko: “If Multichoice has the right to appoint one foreigner, and let’s assume, and then handpicks a South African. How is that true independence? Who really calls the shots at that board meeting?”
The answer is less straightforward because, as previously explained, Canal+ did some impressive regulatory gymnastics to seize control of the continent’s local streaming markets.
But for all the scale Canal+ achieved, it absorbed a business bleeding cash from the corporate arteries.
In the 12 months leading up to December 2025, MultiChoice’s subscriber base shrank from 14.9 million to 14.4 million. Revenues declined 6% to €2.4-billion (R47bn), and adjusted earnings fell 14% to €159-million (about R3-billion).
MultiChoice previously suffered a massive R10.2-billion negative impact strictly due to local currency depreciation against the dollar, while shedding 2.8 million active linear subscribers over two financial years.
The balance sheet Canal+ inherited is heavy. It absorbed €140-million (R2.5-billion) in right-of-use assets (mostly sports rights agreements) and €290-million (R5.5-billion) in lease liabilities for transmission agreements, heavily inflating the group’s financial net debt.
In 2026 alone, MultiChoice is projected to face a R2.5-billion negative impact directly caused by the inertia of its shrinking subscriber base and severe cost inflation.
Some cuts and some casinos
First order of business is a pivot from broadcasting prestige to a hard-nosed sales operation.
Perhaps the most fascinating, and unsexy, pivot is the aggressive push into the iGaming sector. While Canal+ management was initially displeased with MultiChoice’s diversification strategy, it is certainly not turning off the betting taps now.
MultiChoice poured roughly R6-billion into Nigerian gaming company KingMakers (formerly BetKing) for a 49% stake. It hasn’t been a smooth ride… KingMakers recently recorded a $28-million (R550-million) loss primarily due to scaling costs and the naira’s collapse.
Multichoice brought the casino home as baggage, launching SuperSportBet in South Africa in January 2024. By deeply integrating live feeds via SuperPicks, playbook preview shows and securing official betting partnerships with local giants Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, they are cutting out the middleman and converting eyeballs directly into deposits.
When a cash-strapped subscriber finally cancels their R900 DStv Premium package, they don’t stop watching that Soweto derby, they just watch it at the local tavern. MultiChoice might lose the monthly subscription fee, but with SuperSportBet and digital casino offerings, it will gladly take that same consumer's discretionary spend at the digital roulette wheel.
Not your gogo’s foxtrot
Showmax was the obvious move, but there are three more steps to the Canal+ wedding dance.
€100m boost plan: Canal+ is launching an immediate €100-million investment to subsidise equipment and lower the barrier to entry (cheaper decoders and subscription tiers).
Boots on the ground: It is recruiting more than 1,000 sales-focused positions across Africa.
Corporate haircut: To fund this, Canal+ is initiating a voluntary severance plan throughout MultiChoice’s support functions, rationalising real estate and launching a restructuring programme at the cybersecurity subsidiary, Irdeto.
Then there’s also the matter of a secondary inward listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) by the first half of 2026. For South African investors, this is the ultimate test of faith in the French project.
Management is targeting a combined earnings estimate of above €850-million (R17-billion), Cash Flow from Operations (CFFO) above €800-million (R16-billion), and Free Cash Flow (FCF) above €500-million (R10-billion) in the medium term. Add a proposed 10% dividend increase to 2.2 euro cents per share, and the long-term play on Africa’s booming demographics looks highly lucrative.
Makoti in the service of the in-laws
Don’t rush to drink the JSE umqombothi because there is still the messy reality of the immediate turnaround. MultiChoice is, even without Showmax, currently a cash sinkhole. The standalone Free Cash Flow for 2026 is projected to be down R1-billion before restructuring costs are even factored in.
If you believe Canal+ can execute a flawless integration, manage the inevitable political fallout of local job cuts and squeeze profit from a sprawling continental network, the JSE listing will be the buying opportunity of the decade.
But if this integration stumbles over the threshold, South African investors will be left holding the bag for a French empire that bought the family mansion just to realise the foundation was rotten.
To answer Diko’s question about the union requires a reframing: ownership and control are not the same thing.
Canal+ holds the purse strings, the global distribution rights and the technological architecture.
The local board can be as independent as it likes on paper, but when the parent company dictates the capital expenditure and the strategic pivot, “independence” is not under the official vows. The state regulators were outmanoeuvred by a corporate quickstep, and the marriage has already been consummated. DM