Canal+ Looking To Buy Another Pay-TV Platform Ahead Of Its Acquisition In MultiChoice

Vivendi’s Canal+ plans to double its stake in MC Vision to become the majority shareholder of the Mauritian-based digital pay-TV company, as the French firm seeks to boost its presence on the continent.

Canal+ will increase its stake to 75% from 37% for an undisclosed amount, pending regulatory approvals, according to a joint statement published in Le Dimanche/L’Hebdo newspaper.

Currimjee Jeewanjee and Co, a family-owned business that started MC Vision with Canal+ more than two decades ago, will cut its stake to 25% from 53% and state-owned Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation will sell its 10% holding.

Canal+ is seeking to expand its presence on the youngest and fastest growing continent

The new structure “will enable MC Vision to continue to meet the expectations of Mauritian households in terms of audiovisual content and services, while benefiting from the support of the Canal+ group”, the companies said.

Canal+ is seeking to expand its presence on the youngest and fastest growing continent to compete with US entertainment giants. In April it made an all-cash formal offer for MultiChoice Group, valuing the South African broadcaster’s shares at R55-billion and said the combined entity will be listed in Europe and Johannesburg.

Evolved

From pioneering digital satellite television in the Indian Ocean island nation in 1999, MC Vision has evolved into a provider of premium and exclusive content.

In the year to December 2022, it recorded revenue of Rs1.25-billion (R490-million) and a Rs1.6-million loss. The shortfall was due to low consumer confidence, a significantly weaker rupee, a rise in piracy and the unprecedented cost of content rights, for live sports in particular, according to Currimjee Jeewanjee’s annual report.  

How Warner Bros. Discovery May Look Into Rolling Out TNT Sports In Africa And Global?

TNT Sports is a brand name Warner Bros. Discovery which serves as the parent company had trademarked for its sports channels and prior a division within America. It currently maintains an active presence in Latin America, United Kingdom, Argentina and Chile with more international territories to be added.

After obtaining rights to select content from wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling, Warner Bros. Discovery is planning/exploring to get this brand trademarked within Africa. The current structure of the brand has yet to disclosed but if we had to guess they'll be time sharing with the current TNT channel. 

Another would be obtaining a structure similar to that of ESPN channels on DStv which is basically a SuperSport Blitz infused channel with NFL and NBA. Or rivaling with SuperSport's WWE and making TNT Sports an AEW oriented channel with doccies, films and highlights. 

Warner Bros. Discovery already operates the Eurosport channel in parts of Europe and with its division branded TNT Sports International. That is likely to all fold under one branding and the only other means Warner Bros. Discovery has in the establishment of such brand.

On top of licensing agreements, Warner Bros. Discovery is also producing original content so similar to Cartoonito's rollout globally. The likely scenario is that content from TNT Sports will just pop-up on Eurosport in an attempt to get consumers accustomed to a new brand name. 

Eurosport is basically SuperSport so there's not really much it has to offer for consumers in Africa that consumers aren't getting. There's a bidding war various sporting events and Warner Bros. Discovery wouldn't be able to outbid a broadcaster like SuperSport for something like PSL.

The question arises as to how Warner Bros. Discovery would balance a wider collection of sports content onto TNT's existing offering. For decades even dating back to TCM, it garnered prestige for its movies lineup and AEW's inclusion has caused conflict which led to numerous timeslot changes.

eExtra, eToonz, eMovies And eMovies Extra Continues On MultiChoice's DStv As eMedia Investments Looks To Take Legal Action Over Their Pending Demise

Since 2022, eMedia Investments and MultiChoice have been embroiled a carriage dispute regarding eExtra, eMovies, eMovies Extra and eToonz. These channels are also allocated on the Openview platform with eExtra that is available on StarSat in a separate agreement. 

A hearing was scheduled for this August but according to a report it has been delayed once again with a date that has to be finalized. 

eMedia Investments is looking to take legal action against MultiChoice over the impending demise of these money grabbers. These channels ranked first, fourth, seventh and tenth serve as additional revenue stream to aid in the distribution and licensing of content. 

Other disputes these two parties engaged in revolved on the 2023 Rugby World Cup where SABC and MultiChoice reached an agreement worth R57 million. Of course, this agreement restricted these matches from being allocated on Openview and StarSat as they failed to obtain free-to-air rights.

In a court ruling, MultiChoice wasn't allowed to make such restrictions forcing the SABC to have their current agreement set in place scrapped. Following SABC’s absence from these events, sports minister warned a warning to these broadcasters for their failure to come into terms with a new agreement. 

MultiChoice And Canal+'s DStv Turns 30 In 2025

DStv is a pay-tv platform which was launched in 1995 by MultiChoice was an alternative to the SABC. Initially comprising of 18 TV channels which included M-Net, TNT (series channel) and Cartoon Network became one of the leading pay-tv platforms across the African market.

For decades through the parent company MultiChoice had been known for supporting local talent across the market with shows like Isibaya and Binnelanders. They had also introduced audiences to array of content across the African market and the world including Battleground and Riona.

In recent years, this dominance has come under threat from the likes of streaming services such as Disney+ and Netflix that had been bleeding DStv dry.  It led MultiChoice to explore other avenues for survival including SuperSportBET, DStv Insurance, Namola and Showmax. 

Now left technically insolvent, it is in a position where bankruptcy or possible liquidation is on the cards. This matter won't improve overnight unless Canal+ acquisition of MultiChoice moves ahead but even then nothing is guaranteed when it comes to the fate of the DStv company.

Canal+ is like Disney and Paramount a content company and their avenues revolve on this content unlike MultiChoice. Similar to DStv Insurance, it's likely that most or these avenues could get sold off if not scrapped to its entirety. 

Before venturing to casinos and cybersecurity, MultiChoice was a content company above else through DStv and Showmax and this is what Canal+ is pivoting toward. With them being constraint to French speaking countries in Africa with MultiChoice it helps them get more exposure. 

It will be interesting to see how #DStv30 will look like with the company that brought on films like Terminator 2: Judgement Day and Retribution. Especially with a brand like M-Net that too is constrained but in recent years worked with global players like Acorn TV on shows like Recipe For Love And Murder.

This two could as well fuse into one brand or M-Net jumps ship and becomes whatever is left of Showmax. Another with M-Net tons of money on the latest everything that could be minimized to again boost the endeavors of Showmax. 

What is going to be more worrisome is what awaits DStv in 2025 when a new company comes into the equation something is going to cut. Canal+ offers France24 on Openview and SPI International offering with StarSat none of which reside on DStv at the moment. 

If Canal+ was looking to include them on DStv, they'll probably cut something alongside the already scrapped offering in 2024 to save up on costs and lessen duplicate content. M-Net Movies could be traded in for Canal+ Cinema's offering or FilmBox seeing as they'll all have the same owner.

Cartoon Network's Future In Doubt As Warner Bros. Discovery Pulls The Cord On Its Website

During the week, it was announced that Warner Bros. Discovery had closed/merged Cartoon Network's websites in America with the Max streaming service. Home to clips, video games and and other content from various shows on the network had been axed without prior notice. 

According to Warner Bros. Discovery who have accumulated 40 billion dollars in debt making a sale impossible less people people were using this website. So they'll put more focus on Cartoon Network as a channel alongside its multiple social platforms including Facebook and YouTube. 

Whenever users try to access CartoonNetwork.com consumers are being directed to Max probably an attempt to get consumers to pay. What is also odd in this scenario is that all of Discovery's channels websites even Adult Swim were unaffected unlike Cartoon Network. 

Now questions amount to whether a similar fate could await consumers in Europe and other parts of the world as well. Warner Bros. Discovery is technically insolvent and the only option they have is to sell portions of the company in order to reduce their expenses if not close them.

Although the linear part of Cartoon Network remains intact in other countries whose to say that this will be like that for the foreseeable future. Look at Paramount for starters before Skydance made its bid to acquire the company a lot of feeds within Europe for the MTV and Nickelodeon channels had merged.

On top of that, Nickelodeon Africa's Facebook page had a regional block (for some weird reason) and consumers were redirected to one used by America while the page continued adding new content. Whose to say that Cartoon Network may not as well undergo a similar fate as Nickelodeon. 

There's a lot of fear amongst consumers of Cartoon Network potentially shuttering its doors or for Adult Swim to someday takeover its operations. It has more hours on the channel in America than Cartoon Network itself on top of that there hasn't been much content coming to the channel. 

That's exactly what happened with Boomerang before becoming Cartoonito in other parts of the world. It started out as a block on the channel before gaining more hours and taking whatever content was left of Boomerang while others like Mr. Magoo reverted to Cartoon Network.