Canal+ Is Shutting Down In Ethiopia By The End Of December, Could DStv Follow?

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During the week, it was revealed that both Canal+ and Bruh Entertainment PLC that launched a rival platform to StarTimes in Ethiopia back in 2021 will be closing down by 31 December 2024. This is due to the dominance of free-to-air operators in the region with the French broadcaster putting more focus on existing agreements with BeMedia.

This means channels like Canal+ Gebeta and Canal+ Jumbo will cease to exist unless another company was looking to revive these endeavors for consumers in the region. Other channels like Star Life, KIX, Cartoon Network and Trace Urban can be viewed on DStv with Canal+ also looking to acquire it's parent company MultiChoice which is awaiting approval from local legislation.

If this takeover succeeds, what happens to MultiChoice's operations within Ethiopia do those suffer the same fate or is Canal+ departure from Ethiopia having to do with the acquisition in general. This happened to be the only part of French broadcaster's operations that wasn't actually based in Francophone Africa and Canal+ is looking to merge their operations with MultiChoice Africa.

MultiChoice Africa hasn't been profitable in a long time which is likely the area Canal+ will manage and what could as well happen is the possible demise of DStv within the region and maybe MultiChoice through Canal+ will only seek to partner up with local broadcasters or license select content from MultiChoice Studios I mean it wouldn't seem far fetched.

Disney+ launched back in 2019 and there's still various markets within Europe and Africa that had been excluded from it's offering despite Disney cutting back on content. Even Netflix despite being a giant in it's current field doesn't have any local presence in Japan, Russia, Syria and North Korea.

Instead of having a DStv, there could be instances where the only reminisce of MultiChoice would be some of the local offering seen on M-Net another could as well be Showmax. Then there's that stake with African pay-tv operator MC Vision they could explore more partnerships/mergers in an attempt to stabilize MultiChoice's operations outside South Africa.

Statement from Canal+ regarding it's closure in Ethiopia

CANAL+ and Bruh Entertainment PLC have been partnering since 2021 to develop a satellite Pay TV distribution business in Ethiopia. Both companies have jointly decided to close the satellite pay-TV distribution business in Ethiopia this year, in a dynamic market led by a strong penetration of free-to-air channels. Broadcast for CANAL+ offers existing subscribers will continue until December 2024.

CANAL+ has decided to set new strategic directions for its activities in Ethiopia and will keep on investing in content production activity through various partnerships with BeMedia.

CANAL+ wishes to continue supporting Ethiopian artists, producers, and media professionals as a purchaser of content and services from Ethiopian companies, and other future opportunities in the country.

CANAL+ appreciates the contributions of its institutional and commercial partners over the last four years, and is committed to an orderly winding up process which respects all stakeholders. We warmly thank the staff of Bruh Entertainment for their remarkable work over the last three years.