Canal+, busy with aggressive cost-cutting since it recently acquired Africa’s MultiChoice pay-TV group, is shuttering its loss-making and money-guzzling video streaming service Showmax that MultiChoice ran in partnership with NBCUniversal.
Variety has reliably learnt that Showmax will definitely be shuttered “soon” although a specific date isn’t yet available given a few remaining legal implications Canal+ and MultiChoice are sorting out.
Canal+ and MultiChoice confirmed the end of Showmax to Variety, saying there will be a “discontinuation of the Showmax service, following a comprehensive review of its streaming activities.”
MultiChoice launched Showmax across Africa 11 years ago in August 2015 to compete with the advent of streamers like Netflix, Apple TV, Amazon’s Prime Video, Disney+ and others which all became available on the continent and started biting into MultiChoice’s legacy pay-TV subscriber base.
Two years ago, in February 2024, MultiChoice, in partnership with Comcast’s NBCUniversal, relaunched Showmax, utilizing the technology behind the Peacock streaming service.
Millions of dollars were poured into the retooling of Showmax’s IT-platform and on content spending to boost the pan-African streamer in its fight against Netflix but it ultimately proved fruitless.
MultiChoice and NBCUniversal roughly poured a combined $309 million in equity funding into Showmax to primarily fuel content creation, but nothing came of the aggressive growth and subscriber uptake targets MultiChoice executives had promised investors before it relaunched.
Looking to shave a combined 400 million euro by 2030 in cost-cutting, including content cuts from the combined Canal+ group, the underperforming and money-guzzling Showmax is the latest victim of Canal+’s rightsizing at MultiChoice.
NBCUniversal has a 30% stake in Showmax as a joint venture. In its last annual results before the Canal+ takeover, MultiChoice revealed that Showmax’s trading losses had worsened by 88% while revenue significantly declined.
According to the company, “The decision to axe Showmax was made by the Showmax board and reflects the continued focus of MultiChoice, a Canal+ company, on financial discipline and investment optimization, in an increasingly competitive and capital-intensive global streaming environment.”
Since Canal+, as part of its agreement to take over MultiChoice, isn’t allowed to get rid of any staff for a period of three years, MultiChoice won’t let any Showmax staff go but will reassign them to other positions within the broader company.
“The decision to discontinue Showmax services will not involve any retrenchments. The group will be engaging and supporting employees through various transition options,” it told Variety.
MultiChoice has already started to quietly rebrand Showmax Originals as Africa Magic, M-Net, kykNET and Mzansi Magic Originals, with original series that will transition to these various DStv linear TV channels on MultiChoice pay-TV platform.
Showmax’s closure comes two years after Amazon MGM Studios shocked Nigeria and South Africa’s creative community in January 2024 when it abruptly announced that it would immediately stop commissioning any new local original content in Africa, and also killed already-existing development deals with a dozen production companies.
In January, during an investors’ call, Maxime Saada, Canal+ CEO, said that Showmax was “not a commercial success” and that its failure as a streaming service was “quite obvious.”
Saada also said that a decision about Showmax’s future would be made soon and that a reduction in the Showmax budget, which has been a huge financial drain on MultiChoice, would contribute significantly to Canal+’s overall cost-cutting goals.
Canal+ says it will “continue to invest in premium content for MultiChoice subscribers, technological innovation and strategic partnerships to consolidate its leadership in the African entertainment market.”
“Further details regarding our expanded content offering and platform upgrades will be shared in due course. We want to reassure our Showmax subscribers that they are our priority as we evolve our services to deliver a superior streaming experience.”
In June, Canal+ and Netflix announced a strategic distribution agreement for Francophone Africa with a new partnership through which Canal+ became the first operator to bundle Netflix subscriptions into its traditional pay-TV offering across 24 Sub-Saharan African countries.
Insiders told Variety that instead of wasting further money through trying to compete with Showmax as a struggling stand-alone streamer, Canal+ is likely to expand its partnership and roll out this Netflix-bundling into the rest of Africa.
An award-winning South African director-producer who has made several series and films for MultiChoice under the Showmax banner, told Variety the end of Showmax is a sad day for South African filmmakers since it closes yet another avenue to showcase work and earn a living in an industry undergoing tumultuous change.
“Showmax was one of the only platforms available to us that was willing to back stories that were bold and authentic in a market that has traditionally always played things safe,” the filmmaker said.
“From ‘Koek’ to ‘Adulting,’ ‘Spinners’ to ‘Catch Me a Killer,’ ‘Khaki Fever’ to ‘Youngins,’ ‘Wyfie’ to ‘Dam,’ these are films and series which would never be created by rival platforms or broadcasters. Losing Showmax is a huge blow to the local industry and audiences, with Canal+ giving us very little to hope that they will fill that gap with anything of value.”
“If 2026 is the Year of the Horse, it feels like this one is getting sent to the factory to be turned into glue and cheap pies.”
Canal+ is scheduled to report its next set of financial results on March 11. This will be the first full-year combined results since the group took effective control of MultiChoice in September 2025.
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