DStv disaster

MultiChoice continues to bleed subscribers, with the pay-TV operator seeing its subscriber base fall from 14.9 million to 14.4 million in 2025. 

This is coupled with declining profitability, with the company’s operating profit falling by 14% to €159 million (R3 billion).

MultiChoice’s new owner, Canal+, revealed this performance in its annual results for the 2025 financial year – the first set of results with the South African company as a fully-owned subsidiary. 

Its annual results revealed a continuation of the declining performance of MultiChoice over the past few years, with the French company painting a dire picture of a pay-TV operator that peaked in 2023. 

Canal+ explained that MultiChoice experienced strong growth from 2010 to 2023, with its subscribers peaking at 17.3 million in March 2023. 

However, since then, it has run into a myriad of challenges that have negatively impacted its financial performance. 

This includes macroeconomic headwinds from currency devaluation in Nigeria to load-shedding in South Africa, alongside elevated inflation across its business. 

These headwinds were compounded by strategic missteps by the company, with its investment in Showmax proving to be an “expensive failure”. 

Canal+ has announced plans to shut down Showmax and roll out its own streaming service in South Africa instead, after MultiChoice’s creation posted a trading loss of R4.9 billion last year. 

MultiChoice’s efforts to address its slide through short-term measures, including price increases and reducing subsidies, did not work, Canal+ said. 

These interventions resulted in a death spiral of sorts, with subscriber numbers declining as a result of price increases, forcing MultiChoice to raise prices to cover its soaring costs. 

As a result, MultiChoice posted a 6% decline in revenue in Canal+’s annual results, amounting to a €142 million (R2.7 billion) drop from €2.54 billion in 2024 to €2.4 billion in 2025.

Adjusted EBIT, a measure of operating profit, declined by 14%, falling €26 million from €185 million in 2024 to €159 million in 2025.

The R1.9 billion plan to save DStv

Canal+ also unveiled a plan to spend around €100 million (R1.9 billion) to halt MultiChoice’s decline and support its return to growth. 

In its annual results, the French giant explained how it plans to turn around the sinking ship of MultiChoice through four strategic pillars. 

The primary pillar is Canal+’s focus on building the most compelling content proposition in Africa by leveraging its in-house channels, global partnerships, and joint products. 

This will ultimately mean the company will produce local African content and retain key sporting rights. Canal+ said this will be the cornerstone of MultiChoice going forward. 

The second pillar is the simplification and strengthening of MultiChoice’s commercial offerings. Canal+ plans to introduce clearer pricing, streamline branding, and enhance marketing efforts.

Ultimately, this is expected to dovetail with the third pillar – subscriber growth. 

This will be achieved by lowering the initial cost for customers through equipment subsidies, expanding the distribution network, and hiring over 1,000 new on-the-ground sales personnel.

The strategy’s final pillar, “Operational Excellence at Scale”, indicates retrenchments may be experienced at MultiChoice. 

This involves launching a voluntary severance plan within MultiChoice’s support functions. Furthermore, a “restructuring programme” is planned for Irdeto, MultiChoice’s wholly-owned technology and cybersecurity company.

Canal+ stated that these measures are intended to improve MultiChoice’s operational efficiency by implementing best practices and a standardised operating model across all markets. 

The company asserted that these actions are in line with the commitments made to the Competition Tribunal during the acquisition, which stated that MultiChoice employees should be protected from retrenchments for the immediate future.

Some cost-cutting measures have already been outlined, including the sale of some MultiChoice properties and the shutdown of Showmax. 

MyBroadband also reported that in October 2025, MultiChoice suspended payments to suppliers and demanded 20% discounts on invoices. 

The company insisted that this was part of efforts over the two previous years to reduce costs and increase efficiency.