Good news about DStv

Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada said DStv subscribers can expect the best available content on the planet and the best service levels following the company’s acquisition of MultiChoice.

On Monday, 22 September 2025, MultiChoice announced that the offer from Canal+ to acquire the company had become unconditional. The deal will be concluded in October 2025.

As part of the deal, there will be a shake-up in MultiChoice’s leadership team and board. The company’s current board resigned on Monday, 22 September.

Two Canal+ executives, David Mignot and Nicolas Dandoy, will take over as CEO and CFO of the Canal+ African operations, replacing Calvo Mawela and Tim Jacobs.

Mawela will become the chair of these operations, which includes MultiChoice. Jacobs will continue to hold a senior position in the combined group’s finance department.

Commenting on the deal, Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada said MultiChoice has faced numerous headwinds in recent years.

These include macroeconomic challenges, load-shedding, high inflation and interest rates, and currency devaluations in some of the countries in which it operates.

Despite these challenges, MultiChoice maintained its position as the undisputed leader in the African audiovisual entertainment market.

It said MultiChoice has built up impressive assets, including content production, sporting rights and partnerships.

“What we are going to do is to combine these forces with those of Canal+ to bring the best of both worlds to Africa,” he said.

“We are going to do that all across Africa as the new company will serve more than 40 million subscribers across close to 70 countries in Africa, Europe and Asia.”

He added that the new company will have 17,000 employees, with over half of them based in Africa.

“We will establish this new company as the absolute best value proposition with the best user experience for all African consumers,” Saada said.

“We will join forces and bring the best content from both companies, Canal+ and MultiChoice, to consumers. We will do this as quickly as possible.”

He said Mignot, who will lead the new company, will ensure that the value proposition is improved and enhanced before the end of the year.

Growing subscribers through affordable offerings

Saada said MultiChoice and Canal+ are already leaders in content production and sports and will focus on bringing this content to consumers at an affordable price.

“This will be necessary for us to grow. The way forward is to grow and to expand the customer base,” he said.

To achieve this, he said, the new company must have a full spectrum of products, from high-end to more accessible offerings.

He said although companies like Disney+ and Netflix are large and well-funded competitors, they are also partners to Canal+ and MultiChoice.

These United States giants have content partnerships with Canal+, MultiChoice, or both, and these relationships will continue.

“Canal+ has positioned itself as a super aggregator, which aggregates Netflix, Apple TV+, Paramount+, and HBO Max into its own platform,” he said.

“We have rolled out these agreements, which include Netflix in French-speaking Africa. We will continue this strategy.”

He said they intend to make the strength of companies like Netflix and Apple TV+ their strength and make all this content accessible to their users.

Saada added that they will differentiate themselves from global players by investing in local content, including series, movies, documentaries, and sports.

“This is a key area for us and a key differentiating factor going forward. We are an African voice which is different from the Americans,” he said.