Could Canal+ Kids Expand Its Operations Through MultiChoice's DStv Or Showmax?

Canal+ Kids is a French based children's channel operated by the Canal Group that offers imported alongside locally produced content. It is known for shows such as Elvis Riboldi and Mush-Mush And The Mushables shows picked by Warner's kids networks.

With Canal+ looking to acquire Africa's largest pay-tv company MultiChoice with an announcement anticipated in the coming days. Several things await the possibly merged companies one of which is downsizing of staff and merger of assets.

As seen since the course of 2023, MultiChoice Studios expanded their local portfolio to the kids market with the addition of Jay Jay: The Chosen One. This serves as the first animated project with promises to expand the lineup if it proved to be favorable. 

By 2024, MultiChoice Studios has managed to launch an additional two titles Twende and Hero Space: Trust Your Inner Hero. The plan at the moment is to do more short form depending on their performance as the plan is to expand this to other countries. 

Canal+ Kids which is situated in French speaking countries had already followed on similar endeavors basically serving as a rival. With Canal+ looking to acquire MultiChoice its likely that Canal+ Kids could expand their portfolio to include other countries. 

I mean the idea wouldn't seem far fetched as Canal+ has an active presence in the kids circuit in parts of Europe. Through Poland, some content is distributed by Teletoon+ and in Africa this would be considered the equivalent of Play Room.

Possible Takeover: Canal+'s Investment In Viu Currently Stands At Approximately $300m, With The Option To Increase Its Stake To 50% Retained

France’s pay-TV giant Canal+ has ramped up its investment in PCCW’s pan-regional OTT service Viu, bringing its stake in the company to almost 30%. This development follows Canal+’s previous deal struck last year, where it acquired a 26% stake in Viu, marking a significant step in a $300m staged investment plan. The agreement provides Canal+ with the option to potentially acquire a majority (51%) stake in Viu in the future.

Viu, renowned for its extensive Korean content offering, operates across Asia, the Middle East, and South Africa, boasting over 66m monthly active users and 12m paid subscribers. Notably, its lineup includes popular shows like Nenek Bongkok Tiga.

Last year, media research group Omdia highlighted Viu’s dominance in South-Eastern Asia’s OTT video landscape, capturing a 23% market share in online video subscriptions, outpacing competitors such as Disney+ Hotstar and Netflix.

Since its inception in 2016, PCCW-owned streaming service Viu has solidified its position in the region through a strategic focus on providing Asian and localised content, alongside its own Viu Original series. Its subscription and advertising revenue surged significantly last year, with total revenue increasing by 27% and paid subscribers growing by 10% to reach 13.4m. Viu’s subscription revenue witnessed a remarkable 32% surge, attributed to both subscriber growth and pricing adjustments in selected markets.

Viu’s success is further underscored by a 15% increase in advertising revenue and a substantial user base of 62.4m active users by the end of 2023, along with soaring streaming minutes.

Canal+’s enhanced investment in Viu reflects its strategic vision to capitalise on the burgeoning OTT market and tap into Viu’s strong foothold in the Asian and pan-regional streaming landscape, positioning both companies for continued growth and success in the dynamic digital entertainment industry.

Could DStv And GOtv Undergo A Possible Restructure Following Its Possible Acquisition By Canal+?

For several years, Canal+ has progressively increased its ownership of MultiChoice and with them eyeing a possible acquisition of the pay-tv company. Several aspects from both brands come into question and these include their pay-tv services.

Similar to MultiChoice, Canal+ operates various TV channels and platforms within the African stake. With their 35% stake in MultiChoice, they were able to distribute various DStv exclusive content to their pay-tv platforms of the same name.

These included general entertainment brands Africa Magic Epic, Zee World and Telemundo to movies from M-Net Movies 3 and M-Net Movies 4. Even tailor made sports channels SuperSport Premier League and SuperSport La Liga are also added to the lineup. 

Should this acquisition move forward, we're likely to see some consolidation amongst DStv, GOtv and Canal+. Taking to account, they already offer pay-tv services in parts of Europe without the Canal+ trademark we presume DStv could survive in these endeavors. 

From what is understood, MultiChoice Africa isn't profitable as yet and Canal+ could work on making them cost effective. Either scrapping the Canal+ packages and GOtv in favor of DStv or most probably just phasing out Canal+ trademark in some properties. 

Markets in which DStv doesn't exist but Canal+ does will most probably rebrand while those were there's availability of both will probably be structured into separate DStv package if not GOtv.

Canal+ offers a range of entertainment from self titled channels such as Première, Cinema and Docs to third party brands like Game One, English Club TV and France24. Most of which will likely surface on DStv while other brands exit in favor of other TV channels. 

News Shorts: New 8-Bit Rugrats Game Available For Pre-Order, ‘Mandalorian & Grogu’, ‘Moana’ Live Action & ‘Toy Story 5’ Stake Out 2026 Release Dates And ‘Quantum Leap’ Canceled By NBC After 2 Seasons

Rugrats: Adventures In Gameland Honors The 8-Bit Era

Adventures in Gameland appears to be an old-school platformer where you need to do a little exploring and a little digging (literally) to find your way forward. My demo ended with a dramatic, multi-screen battle against the boss, "Big Boy" Pickles, the imaginary younger brother of Angelica Pickles from the TV show — a nice nod to Rugrats fans.

Last month, at PAX East at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, I was lucky enough to chat with Tomas Guinan, lead developer at The MIX Games, about what went into the creation of Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland. I was also fortunate to demo one of the game's six levels.

Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland doesn't have a firm release date, but it should arrive by the end of spring, according to Guinan. It will launch on PC, Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, and, coolest of all, NES. 

Disney unveils a slate of content 

In big 2026 news, Jon Favreau’s big screen version of The Mandalorian — The Mandalorian & Grogu— is the updated Star Wars title on May 22, 2026. Star Wars films on a theatrical release calendar far far away use to release around Memorial Day weekend. The last one to do so was Solo: A Star Wars Story. No rival wide releases on Mando‘s date.

Toy Story 5 is the title of the untitled Pixar movie on June 19, 2026. Warner Bros/New Line also have this date on hold for an untitled release. The live action version of Moana, impacted by the Thanksgiving release this year of Moana 2, will hulla- dance its way from June 27, 2025 to July 10, 2026. No competitive releases on that date.

The 20th Century Studios Rami Malek thriller, The Amateur, keeps getting kicked around the calendar, it’s moving from Nov. 8, 2024 this year to April 11, 2025. 

Quantum Leap axed on NBC 

NBC has decided not to proceed with a third season of its Quantum Leap reboot starring Raymond Lee. The news comes more than a month after the two-hour Season 2 finale aired Feb. 20.

The development is not entirely surprising as the series, from Universal Television, had been on the bubble. That is in contrast to last season when Quantum Leap received a very early renewal in December 2022.

A follow-up to the original series, which aired on NBC from 1989-93, Quantum Leap is set in present day. It’s been 30 years since Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished. Now a new team has been assembled to restart the project in the hopes of understanding the mysteries behind the machine and the man who created it.

Rescue Heroes: Billy Blazes (GBA)

A lightning bolt has struck the mountain top, and has ignited a fire that is out of control. Now you must lead Billy Blazes on a firefighting adventure through rocky mountains, the forest floor, and city streets to stop the fire before it destroys everything in sight. Rescue the citizens of Sky High Village by running, jumping, and swinging your way through 16 levels. You'll also have different gadgets and water-spraying vehicles to ensure that no one gets left behind. 

For a Gameboy Advance emulator check out Insidus Lite banner. 

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