DStv under siege

MultiChoice’s latest subscriber numbers showed it is rapidly losing DStv subscribers, which is a serious concern to its new shareholder, Canal+.

Canal+ recently published its Investor Presentation for November 2025, in which it shared financial and operational data with the market.

Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada provided details about its turnaround strategy for MultiChoice during the presentation.

He told investors that the turnaround will focus on returning the company to growth, leveraging cost optimisations, and driving synergies within the group.

The numbers, which include declining subscriber numbers and revenue, clearly showed why MultiChoice needs a turnaround strategy.

Over the last year, MultiChoice’s subscribers declined from 14.5 million to 13.1 million. Simply put, MultiChoice lost 1.4 million DStv subscribers.

It should be noted that these numbers are based on unaudited management reporting from MultiChoice Group.

Canal+ has different reporting periods from MultiChoice Group, which meant it had to use unaudited data in its latest investor presentation.

Therefore, it used unaudited management reporting for the full-year and half-year periods that ended on 30 June 2024 and on 30 June 2025.

The declining DStv subscriber trend accelerated over the last few years. It began with DStv Premium and has since spread to lower-end bouquets in recent years.

The company attributed this decline to several factors, including increased competition from streaming providers and a challenging economic environment.

“The past two financial years have been a period of significant financial disruption for economies, corporates, and consumers across sub-Saharan Africa,” MultiChoice said.

It stated that its challenges include macroeconomic factors and the impact of structural changes in the video entertainment industry.

Its operational challenges related to DStv subscriptions include the rise of piracy, streaming services and social media.

This has materially affected the overall performance of the MultiChoice Group in the 2025 financial year. It lost 2.8 million active linear subscribers.

The plan to turn MultiChoice around

Last year, former MultiChoice CEO Calvo Mawela said they have successfully been implementing their strategy over the past few years.

He explained that they have achieved key milestones such as our investment in KingMakers and returning the Rest of Africa business to profitability.

MultiChoice has also concluded the Showmax partnership with Comcast and investing in Moment.

He added that they remain committed to driving new revenue streams and see significant opportunities in video entertainment over the medium to long term.

However, MultiChoice’s financial and operational performance is clearly of great concern to its new owner, Canal+.

Canal+ unveiled a plan to turn the struggling MultiChoice group around and return the company to profitability.

The first is to focus on growth, which includes reinvesting in subscriber acquisition to capture growth opportunities in the underpenetrated African Pay-TV market.

It is also planning to offset higher subscriber acquisition cost through synergies and a granular focus on optimal distribution.

Canal+ set ambitious growth targets and incentivised teams accordingly to ensure a “no small market” philosophy for the continent.

It is also enhancing its customer value proposition by strengthening the content line-up through the sharing of content across platforms.

Canal+ further wants to leverage cost optimisation by resetting the cost base for a sustainable and profitable pay-TV business.

The company highlighted that this strategy differs from MultiChoice’s previous cost savings, which were aimed solely at short-term profitability.

The last focus area in the turnaround strategy is to drive synergies between Canal+ and the MultiChoice Group.

The initial focus on delivering meaningful cost synergies is to reduce content and technology costs.

It will also develop and implement plans to drive meaningful incremental revenues for MultiChoice Group.

MultiChoice finances