Canal+ has completed its $3.17 billion acquisition of MultiChoice Group, finalizing one of Africa’s largest media transactions. MultiChoice is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Canal+, which operates across 70 countries spanning Europe, Africa and Asia, with the completion confirmed by David Mignot, CEO of Canal+ Africa and MultiChoice. Canal+ acquired the remaining shares it did not already own at R125 apiece, valuing MultiChoice at about R55 billion, following more than two years of regulatory reviews and shareholder approvals. The combined company will serve more than 40 million subscribers through DStv, GOtv, Showmax and SuperSport, alongside Canal+’s pay-television and streaming platforms in Europe and Francophone Africa.
Why it matters. The takeover concludes a gradual build-up that began in 2020, with Canal+ steadily increasing its holding before triggering a mandatory takeover offer once it crossed the regulatory threshold requiring a bid for the remaining shares. This marks the first time MultiChoice, founded in South Africa and long the continent’s dominant pay-television operator, has come under foreign ownership. That matters beyond symbolism: it places one of the continent’s most important content and distribution platforms under the control of a group whose center of gravity sits in Paris and London, not Johannesburg, at the exact moment global streamers are pressing hardest into African markets.
What changes. The transaction required extensive restructuring to satisfy South African broadcasting law, which restricts foreign ownership of commercial broadcasting licences; MultiChoice separated its domestic broadcasting licence into an independently controlled entity, known as LicenceCo, to allow Canal+ to complete the acquisition while meeting those requirements. Canal+ expects the combination to generate more than €400 million in annual synergies over the coming years through shared content procurement, technology integration and operational efficiencies, and has said the deal will strengthen its direct-to-consumer streaming strategy as viewing habits continue shifting away from traditional pay television. Canal+ also plans a secondary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange targeting September 2026, to let South African investors keep exposure to the combined business after MultiChoice’s delisting from the JSE; its primary listing remains in London. Although the deal values MultiChoice at roughly $3 billion, Canal+ did not pay that full amount on completion, having already accumulated a substantial shareholding over several years before launching its final offer for the outstanding shares.
What to watch. The timing is difficult: African pay-TV firms are under pressure as households cut back amid rising living costs while Netflix and Amazon Prime continue expanding across the continent. Canal+ is betting that its financial strength and global scale will improve MultiChoice’s purchasing power for premium sports and entertainment rights and accelerate investment in Showmax’s streaming technology. The real test is whether that scale actually translates into cheaper content deals and a stronger Showmax offering fast enough to slow subscriber losses, or whether MultiChoice simply becomes a smaller, foreign-owned piece of a European group’s global portfolio, competing for capital against markets Canal+ may ultimately prioritize over Africa.