The Overlaps Between MultiChoice And Canal+

MultiChoice and Canal+ are currently engaging with (ICASA) regarding MultiChoice Pty. Limited (LicenceCo). During the year, ICASA had asked for written submissions from various parties and following recommendations from the Competition Authority are likely in the final stages of transaction.

When MultiChoice and Canal+ manage to complete all the regulatory requirements by October 8 including that of LicenceCo. I think one question that remains in mind would be the overlap between the broadcasters.

While Canal+ doesn't have existing foothold in South Africa they do clash with MultiChoice Africa primarily Ghana, Rwanda and Niger.

MultiChoice and Canal+ may say that the two compliment each other as one caters for Anglophone with the other Francophone. But the reality is that both companies cater for each other's target group to a lesser degree.

As reported, Canal+ already owns ROK Studios and with the acquisition of MultiChoice brings Africa Magic under one umbrella. The fate of these broadcasters is still up in the air even if plans were to retain respective brands there's no guarantee that the rates used on Africa Magic remains the same.

ROK comprises of just two channels while Africa Magic has over 5 channels (most of which have diversified in recent years). This is followed by the entity's respective pay-tv services MultiChoice with DStv and GOtv followed by Canal+ with its Afrique offering.

On the basis of sports, MultiChoice comes with SuperSport, ESPN and Racing240 and while we understand that Canal+ comes as a french broadcaster it offers W-Sport and NBA TV. With this merger, the acquiring company using implements cost cutting mechanisms.

Canal+ being another MultiChoice in France and Europe one has to wonder how dependent the merged entity would be on international providers for content. Especially with the absence of Zacu Entertainment, Marodi TV, Plan A and SPI International on DStv.

DStv consumers have been complaining about too much old content coming to channels and from what has been implied through other sources. They could look to scale back on content particularly from channels 101-130 as content there is being optimised for streaming.

With DStv looking to undergo some major overhaul which MultiChoice is expected to address by the fall of 2025 to early 2026. They could as well use that time to reduce channels and minimise rates if it meant getting more consumers hooked onto Showmax.

DStv Shorts: ROK Might Be Loading In High Definition (HD), Teen Africa TV Gets Yanked Off And SuperSport Liyu's Launch Likely Postponed

ROK is going HD

MultiChoice is currently in the process of completing its acquisition by ROK owners Canal+ as the deal is set to finalised by the Competition Tribunal in the coming months. Amidst this, ROK had been making some headlines in the previous months.

As recalled, it appeared that ROK was experimenting on a third TV channel with ROK 2 available in other parts of Africa. As this channel had its own schedule with most of the content (mainly movies) borrowed from the current ROK channels on DStv now that appears to have been killed off (maybe).

Usually in testing stages, placeholders usually come in before the actual channel begins development but in ROK's case that could as well remain a mystery. For now, it appears to be an HD feed for the eldest ROK channel so we can only assume when the buyout commences ROK will remain unaffected.

Teen Africa TV takes a raincheck 

Teen Africa TV is a Nigerian based youth channel that offers locally produced content which range from reality, educational content and drama series. For sometime, Teen Africa TV has struggled to remain consistent as broadcast hours and content offering had further been reduced.

According to posts on their social platforms, Teen Africa TV is planning to go "fully online" which implies it's discontinuation on DStv, GOtv and StarTimes as they're not listed on any of their websites. On top of that, their new home YouTube has been inactive and has very little noticeability.

Kind of curious where this funding will come from and how they'll be able to monetize any of this going forward.

Since it's inception, Teen Africa TV has controversial first with allegations of workers not getting paid. Another had to do with MultiChoice moving it's frequency closer to other children channels on DStv despite being a youth channel some of its content caters for a much older audience.

SuperSport extending the reach of Liyu

We were the first to report on this and from what some subscribers had seen last month MultiChoice added SuperSport Liyu on channel 236 - probably a test launch. Since then, MultiChoice hasn't stated the exact reason for inducting the channel to more consumers across Africa.

It is a football channel with majority of content already accessible on other SuperSport channels. To top it off, the content is broadcast in Amharic which is only known to consumers in Ethiopia my hunch still stands it's likely a pop-up channel they're using to boast a major event.

The fact it was allocated with the other SuperSport channels only to get removed means one of two things first the channel was delayed as MultiChoice had been notorious for such. Second, they likely scrapped the launch for some apparent reason.

New Channel Alert (Rumour): Third ROK Channel Supposedly In Early Development On DStv

MultiChoice is currently undergoing a takeover bid by ROK owners Canal+ with local legislation as the two look to tie the knot by October 2025. This comes after both parties were looking to finalize the transaction later in the week with Africa Magic and ROK folded under the same umbrella.

ROK has been described as the leading broadcaster for Nollywood films and series prior to Canal+'s growing interest in MultiChoice distributed the brand amongst DStv and Canal+ platforms. Formerly owned by iROKO TV, it spawned 2 regional channels one seen in the UK another in the Eastern and Western parts of Africa.

It appears that MultiChoice will be duplicating this offering soon as they've begun work on a third TV channel with ROK's recent blockbusters Miss Cole and Service Agreement. We can only assume with minimal offering that this channel is in early development.

With no series in site, it could as well be a complimentary offering to Africa Magic Epic which is devoted to primarily movies. In general, we're not expecting anything newsworthy from this and it will be weird if it did become a movie channel considering how much of is that is already on ROK.

MultiChoice has been streamlining it's offering over the years which led the cancellation of Africa Magic Urban and mergers between BBC First and BBC Brit. The latter is being optimised for Netflix and MultiChoice is hoping with the Comcast deal that Showmax reaches that scale in Africa.

Estimated guess is that the newcomer possibly ROK Movies will be placed on channels 140-159 which is battered with other repeat tailored channels such as Magic Showcase, KykNet Lekker and Moja 9.9. 

With the MultiChoice/Canal+ deal underway, it's a safe bet to predict that ROK and Africa Magic won't form part of some major overhaul if the deal were to be approved. However there could as well be some restructuring to their regional offering particularly for brands like Africa Magic Hausa which could be seen with ROK content.

Important Notice: ROK Can Also Be Seen On DStv Family And Access Packages In South Africa Alongside WildEarth On Easyview

MultiChoice has silently added the ROK channel to DStv Access customers after being made exclusive to Compact customers. The channel is owned by ROK Studios that serves as a division of Canal+ who is currently looking to acquire MultiChoice ahead of their split from Vivendi in the coming weeks and only time can tell what awaits Africa Magic.

ROK has become a profilic producer of original content with shows like Festac Town, Khutam, Banks Chronicles and Bloodline alongside Nollywood films like Man Pikin and Strings Of Love. Considering Africa Magic Family is viewable on Access in other African markets we can only assume ROK holds that position in South Africa.

Maybe it won't be over and out for the channel just yet it could as well be restructured into some repeats channel for imports from Africa Magic.

Another development comes from the Easyview package as WildEarth also forms part of their package after being exclusive from Access to Premium consumers. Some tabloids even marked WildEarth as a "new channel" when in reality it only counts if you're an Easyview consumer while others its seen as a relaunch.

Easyview consumers had already lost 4 channels within the year including People's Planet, NWTV, One Freestate Televisual and Emmanuel TV. If anything, WildEarth could as well be interpreted as a replacement to People's Planet as the channel in question had already been distributing content from WildEarth.

This would leave the higher paying consumers being Compact to the full library of children's shows as MultiChoice added Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. to their lineup. According to a statement, the launch on DStv Compact is there to help commemorate SpongeBob Squarepants' 25th anniversary. 

The Possible Fate Awaiting iROKO Former TV Channels On DStv

Canal+ is a French based pay-tv provider operated by Vivendi that distribute various films, series and TV channels. It recently acquired remaining shares in MultiChoice after serving as its largest investor with the company seeking approval from local legislation. 

They intend to merge operations should this deal move forward but alas the two had been rivals years prior and this comes with a similar lineup of entertainment. In this case, Canal+'s ROK Studios and M-Net's Africa Magic channels as mentioned sometime ago. 

Unless some restructuring plan is underway for both these brands it's likely that the ROK channels and Africa Magic would be subjected to a merger. Sort of as a streamlining attempt as seen with Africa Magic Urban as the latter would fold under Showmax and iROKO TV.

Of course, Canal+ did acquire the TV channels and studios and not the iROKO+ streaming service. If anything, Canal+ could reduce their investment on iROKO TV now that they have Africa Magic and opt to license content just to build the offering on IROKO+. 

The ROK channels could start to burn out once consumers notice there's less new content and another if some of this offering were to just reappear on Africa Magic Showcase or Africa Magic Family for instance. 

ROK's Future In Doubt As Canal+ Seeks To Buy Parent Company Of Africa Magic

During the month, it was reported that Canal+ had increased its offer to takeover DStv by 19% with a sum of R35,9 billion. This comes after their initial offering of R32 billion was rejected with the Takeover Regulation Panel (TRP) ordering them to propose a new deal.

As some readers are aware, Canal+ owns various properties in parts of Europe and Africa. Some of which clash with MultiChoice's current offering and should Canal+ succeed in their takeover of the pay-tv company various changes could await the content. 

In this instance, Canal+ owns Nigerian film company ROK Studios who manage the ROK channels currently viewed on DStv. The company was founded by Mary Remmy Njoku in 2013 before folding under the Canal+ company by 2019.

For several decades, MultiChoice has operated Africa Magic which serves as a rival offering to ROK Studios with its own lineup of original content. Should the acquisition move forward these two could merge into one entity since they'll be managed by one entity. 

Another would be a potential sale of ROK Studios as a means to keep Africa Magic intact for the foreseeable future. These brands have a lot of history and consumers aren't open to the reality of their assets being merged. 

One thing that comes to mind as a means to keep both brands intact is a restructuring to their demographic. ROK Studios could transition into a youth oriented brand as seen with the likes of 1Magic while Africa Magic caters to millennials and other audiences. 

Reminder: ROK GH Will Close On DStv And GOtv Across Africa By 31 August 2023

ROK is a general entertainment channel operated by Nigerian film company ROK Studios that produce a selection of content such as Bloodline and Festac Town. Prior to the channel's inception, the company ROK Studios had been garnering popularity for its productions.

By 2018, ROK Studios allocated two more channels to the DStv platform, ROK 2 and ROK 3 (now ROK GH). ROK 2 was viewed as another Mzansi Wethu rehashing content to more consumers while as ROK GH (formerly ROK 3) was spun off from the first producing content from Ghana.

After 5 years on air, MultiChoice has decided to end carriage of ROK GH with further content likely to be distributed on ROK and ROK 2. This comes after it was reported that Maisha Magic Movies would be departing South Africa both of which are slated to go dark by the end of August.

MultiChoice has yet to issue out a statement regarding the cancellation of ROK GH. But if we had to guess similar to Maisha Magic Movies (in SA) and Novela Magic, the channel was struggling to garner traction and brands like ROK and Africa Magic probably edged them out.

Another could be that ROK Studios (if not MultiChoice) is cutting back on content spend and possible streamlining. Therefore reducing the attention seen on their linear platforms as seen with various broadcasters in the African market underwent.