SuperSport Vs. Canal+ Sport: Who Is Likely To Survive Canal+ Potential Takeover Of MultiChoice?

Canal+ Sport is a French based sports broadcaster owned by Canal+ that offers services in parts of Europe and Africa. Similar to the likes of SuperSport, Canal+ Sport also comprises of various linear channels featuring football, rugby motorsport and basketball. 

Last 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, South African laws limit the ownership of businesses to foreign entities with Canal+ voting rights reduced to 20%. Although, they'd have majority stake of the company they wouldn't be able to exercise that level of ownership.

Since news of Canal+ possible takeover of MultiChoice came about, several consumers have been very skeptical about this ordeal. With some very keen on the fate awaiting several brands such as SuperSport for instance.

SuperSport is the biggest player in the world of sports across the African market. It is home to major sporting events such as Premier League, PSL, La Liga, MotoGP, Formula E and WWE most of which aren't accessible on Canal+ Sport.

Even if Canal+ was successful in obtaining MultiChoice most of the company's assets could remain intact this includes SuperSport. It has more reach in the market Canal+ also resides and offers sporting events Canal+ Sport was unable to retain due to exclusivity. 

Regions with Canal+ Sport will most likely see content from SuperSport surface on their channels and overtime fold under the trademark.

Recap To The Decade: TopTV's Abrupt Cancellation And Transition To StarSat + Possible Acquisition By MultiChoice And Zuku TV

With Canal+ looking to acquire MultiChoice there's been concerns from various consumers on the intentions of the French company. Following, StarTimes hold on TopTV (now StarSat), it lurks under the shadow of its previous iteration with less media coverage. 

TopTV was a South African pay-tv platform operated by On Digital Media which served as a rival to MultiChoice's DStv. It promised to offer consumers affordable price rates by letting them pay for a selection of entertainment something not seen on DStv. 

Variety was available across every price plan for R99p/m which was home to free-to-air channels SABC 1-3 and e.tv alongside other entertainment ranging from sports like Eurosport News and Senata Sports and news from BBC News and Al Jazeera. 

These consumers were given an option between Kiss and JimJam from Kids & Music, Discovery Science and FOX Retro from Entertainment & Knowledge, and Showtime and FX from Ultimate Movies.

During its span, TopTV was able to lure at least 300,000 subscribers and got a lot of media coverage. Similar to StarSat, there was a lack of communication with the media over the inclusion of content and TV channels.

Similar to the likes of eMedia Investments, TopTV came with their own branded TV channels such as Top One (general entertainment), Top History (factual), Top Junior (kids) and Top Movies. Most of which were scrapped following the pay-tv company's money woes.

Change in ownership/help from DStv

In 2012, TopTV had gone into business rescue under Companies Act behind on debt and in need of cash needed help from another party which most were eyeing to be South African. 

In 2013, Dynamic TV was the only bidder based in South Africa that was looking to acquire TopTV. It was formed by Given Mkhari's MSG Afrika and Malose Kekana's Falk Trading who had gotten "financial help" from MultiChoice to acquire the pay-tv company. 

It's likely that TopTV could have merged with DStv or rebranded to GOtv as MultiChoice were open to pumping out close to R370 million a year. Other suitors included Zuku TV's owners Wananchi Group meaning they wouldn't have been exclusive to West Africa. 

StarTimes was only successful to acquire TopTV as Dynamic TV and Wananchi Group failed to make their offers on time. Shareholders were desperate for a possible deal and reviewed StarTimes offer before making them their new business partner. 

More battles ahead 

News of StarTimes takeover of TopTV was met with poor reception from workers who feared the overloading of "poor Chinese content". A few shareholders within ODM had taken StarTimes to court regarding its takeover of the TopTV trademark. 

Amidst this StarTimes was looking to unveil the new packages and TV channels set to be rolled out on StarSat. Despite the outcome of the court, StarTimes was able to exercise their 65% hold of the company and unveil the new packages and TV channels to debut.

This garnered a lot of media coverage after reports surfaced of porn being part of this lineup which had heavily been bombarded on TopTV. This consisted of Desire TV, Playboy TV and Private Spice all of which are available at an additional charge.

ICASA saw no problem with the inclusion of porn as it didn't form part of StarSat's other offering with the other pertaining to the broadcast times 20:00 viewed by adults. Other parties such as the Doctors For Life had filed lawsuits with various other law enforcement.

StarSat was forced to pull these channels by 2014 (with license revoked) and they resurfaced sometime later. The Justice Alliance of SA (Jasa) was looking to fine the broadcaster R60,000 but ICASA reduced it to R25,000 as they broadcast without approval. 

Conclusion: TopTV's demise could have been prevented 

TopTV was poorly structured during its run despite housing premium entertainment brands like FX and Showtime. They offered a chunk of add-ons part of which likely went unnoticed by viewers as they continued pumping gas in the fuel tank.

StarTimes had identified these flaws and opted to restructure the packages in a similar form to those viewed in Africa and seen on MultiChoice's DStv. They paid up various debts TopTV owed to various companies and retained part of its offering.

TopTV had about 300,000 subscribers before migrating to StarSat and when you look at it they could have minimized their offering. They were moving very quickly to edge out MultiChoice knowing how little consumption numbers were at the time.

MultiChoice by this period had at least 3 million DStv customers within South Africa. 

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.