What Was Me And 1Magic Replaced With On Canal+'s DStv English Plus Add-On?

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Last year, MultiChoice decided to axe Me from the DStv Compact and Family packages as it merged with the premium channel 1Magic to form 1Max. The channel would comprise of shows viewed on the revamped Showmax streaming service which forms as part of a joint venture with NBCUniversal.

After Canal+ acquired a stake in MultiChoice and this was before the hostile takeover which is expected to conclude within the first half of 2025. The French broadcaster was able to license content from M-Net with DStv offering Africa Magic Showcase, Discovery and Telemundo through their platforms as an Add-On in French markets.

M-Net City and VUZU formed part of this lineup before merging to form Me alongside 1Magic. As seen with DStv's lower bouquets, these channels were ousted from Canal+ platforms and wasn't replaced by 1Max despite distributing 1Magic.

But rather Canal+ opted to distribute Universal TV in place of Me with E! taking over the spot formerly reserved by 1Magic. These channels are owned by NBCUniversal and as we mentioned sometime ago select content from Me and 1Magic can be seen on these brands including The Real Housewives, S.W.A.T. and NCIS: Los Angeles.

Of course, M-Net didn't think that the decision to remove Me will have rippling affects as Mzansi Magic exempts itself local shows like Recipe For Love And Murder and Legacy. Expanding on Me, it was also home to international franchises like The Amazing Race, Survivor and MasterChef now consumers have to turn to SABC or Showmax.

Despite the rippling affects of linear TV overseas there's still a lot of dependency for such platforms in other countries as Canal+ seeks to grow its operations with the acquisition of MultiChoice following its split from Vivendi. But in some way, the actions depicted by MultiChoice had been seen through rival broadcasters.

eMedia Investments' at one point had e.tv distributed a majority of programming from NBCUniversal, Disney and CBS Studios before folding that under Openview. SABC made a similar move with SABC 3 which proved to be controversial it even led viewers and content distributors to flee the channel.