What Makes Canal+ Different From DStv And Also Worrisome?

Canal+ is currently in the process of acquiring MultiChoice pending regulatory approval with lots of questions on the horizon on what awaits the Randburg based company. They currently have a 45% stake in the company making them MultiChoice's largest shareholder with their primary focus being on content allocation that would include DStv and MultiChoice Studios.

Other brands like Namola and Irdeto aren't viewed as much of a priority for the French broadcaster leading to speculation that some of these ventures could as well get scrapped/sold/spun off. But what remains to be seen is what Canal+ could do once they get an active position within MultiChoice Africa home to brands like Africa Magic, Zambezi Magic and Maisha Magic.

Due to local restrictions for foreign entities, voting rights for the company are capped at 20% with plans to get this to 49% still under wraps but that's not what the major concern is at the moment. When a property gets bought by another entity, they usually implement various cost cutting measures which leads some to wonder how much American content will be seen on DStv.

Despite being a French company, Canal+ has managed to establish some presence in Europe, Asia and Africa by buying up portions if not garnering full ownership of a company. While MultiChoice would rely on the African landscape for a portion of DStv's entertainment Canal+ places a similar emphasis within Europe and France.

The big question here now is how much American and international content will be left on DStv while MultiChoice offers Food Network, HGTV and Travel Channel with Canal+ there's TravelXP (India), FilmBox (Nederlands) and Love Nature (Canada). They could look to minimise part of this offering built by MultiChoice to expand their local operations from other countries.

Canal+ has a very different approach when it comes to acquiring content of course this does lead one to wonder if the local aspects of DStv could also be restructured. MultiChoice at one point had tried giving consumers an open window to their content produced across the African continent with Novela Magic and HONEY now the latter had been merged with M-Net's remaining offering. 

So whose to say that Canal+ won't revive this part of DStv especially with the lineup of content filmed in Senegal and the Ivory Coast. They're hoping to produce content which can sell as much as the BBC or HBO so I doubt they'd want to restrict access to some of this content as seen with MultiChoice in the past years.

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