Canal+ is currently in pursuit of MultiChoice after reaching the 35% threshold is looking to acquire full ownership and await regulatory approval from legislation. But MultiChoice may not be the only company the French broadcaster sinks its claws on as they currently hold a 29% stake of Viaplay.
Very much like MultiChoice, Viaplay is a Swedish pay-tv provider with roughly 6 million subscribers and has been a dominant force in Nordic market. Canal+ initially started it's bid at 12% before hiking it to 29% following a restructure which led it to exit US, UK and Baltics.
Under Swedish laws and the surrounding regions in which Viaplay operates, when a company reaches the 30% to 33% threshold they are required by law to acquire remaining shares (including minorities). Very much like South African laws where the threshold sits at 35%.
Unlike South Africa's strict foreign regulations which caps Canal+ at 20% there's no hurdles for them to obtain full ownership except for let's say PPF, a Czech Republic investment firm. They also have a 29% stake and could as well serve as an obstacle in their pursuit.
Similar to when Disney attempted to acquire Comcast's 30% stake in Hulu from time and time again. PPF may not make it easy for Canal+ they could retain their stake in the hopes for more money as Canal+ buys other shareholders or serve as a possible bidder with them also gobbling 29%.
If one had to guess when Canal+ will look to acquire Viaplay perhaps by the fall of 2025 to early 2026 as they set their sights on MultiChoice. It's likely that shareholders want Canal+ to finish it's MultiChoice acquisition before pursuing any other corporate takeovers.
As of September 2024, MultiChoice's foothold in Africa has been under siege with its consumer base that plummeted to 19 million. Initially residing in 24 million, combining it's reach with Canal+ would have the broadcaster reach its 50 million markup but a tie-up to Viaplay is the final piece they need right now.
Viaplay very much like MultiChoice has been in financial distress and have been reliant on investors (particularly Canal+) for stability. A takeover would help them minimise operation costs and bulk up against giants like Netflix who despite reaching 300 million households have its consumer base minimised in mentioned regions.
TLNovelas, a Mexican based entertainment channel home to a variety English dubbed telenovelas home to shows like Rubi, Sortilego and Wild Skin is set to allocate Three Sides Of Ana and Your Love Is My Fortune in the month of June. This comes months after bulking up on mostly reruns.
Synopsis for Three Sides Of Ana
Over a road trip, triplets Ana Laura, Ana Leticia, and Ana Lucía, along with their parents, suffer a dramatic accident crashing by the side of a river. The consequences of this event are catastrophic: Both parents die, Ana Laura loses one leg, and Ana Lucía, unconscious, is dragged by the river’s flow. Only Ana Leticia, who actually caused the accident, emerges unscathed.
Soledad, a woman who was seriously hurt after her daughter’s death, helps Ana Lucía, whom she finds agonizing. Although Soledad discovers who the girl is, she takes advantage of her memory loss regarding the accident and her family and decides to keep her, making her believe she is her mother.
Despite everyone declares Ana Lucía is death, Ernestina, the triplets' grandmother, and Ramiro, their uncle, don’t give up and do everything they can to find Ana Lucía. But years go by, the same as their wishful thinking to find her.
Ana Laura is the only one who never loses hope to recover her sister. She has turned into a beautiful young woman with a good heart, but also solitary due to her disability. Ana Leticia, on the other hand, is an extortionist and ambitious woman who doesn’t want her sister back at all, as this would mean splitting her inheritance as well as the love and attention of everyone around her, including her uncle Ramiro, whom she loves in a sick way.
Marcelo, Ana Leticia's husband, is a private detective who is about to find Ana Lucía, so greedy Ana Leticia hires some one to kill him and solve the problem all at once... But although he loses his memory, Marcelo survives the attempt of murder. Then, a woman helps him and gives him a new name: Santiago.
Without knowing it, Ana Leticia’s actions put her husband’s destiny together with her lost sister’s.
Santiago has some recurring dreams in which a beautiful woman appears and even though he doesn’t know who she is, since he doesn’t recall his wife Ana Leticia, he recognizes Ana Lucía immediately as the woman in his dreams when he meets her.
Soledad knows she might go to jail for keeping Ana Lucía away from her family and as she knows who ‘Santiago’ is, she tries to keep him apart from ‘her daughter’, but destiny puts the pieces in place to have the triplets meet again, except that, ambitious Ana Leticia’s unexpected reaction will force Ana Laura show her character to confront her, while Ana Lucía will be compelled to recover her place and fight for Marcelo in order to be happy.
Three Sides Of Ana (Tres Veces Ana) premieres 6 June.
Synopsis for Your Love Is My Fortune
Natalia Robles is a morally flawless woman who has been married to Adrián Cantú for the past twenty years, which she has devoted body and soul to ensuring her family's wellbeing. Our story begins at her twentieth anniversary party, where Andrea and Regina, her daughters, Adrián's lover Verónica, who is also Natalia's best friend and the girlfriend of Adrián's partner, Mario, are present, alongside their closest group of friends.
Adrian and Veronica have hatched a plan to flee on the same day of the celebration and once they have swindled the clients of the real estate agency of which Adrian, Veronica and Mario are partners.
Natalia collapses when she discovers that she has been betrayed, but she must also immediately solve her financial situation since Adrián has left her broke; she is devastated and resolves to rise again from the debris to help her daughters get ahead.
In a poor Mexico City neighborhood, Vicente Ramírez grieves the terrible loss of Lucía, his wife and mother of his only son Benjamín. The couple had achieved their dream of owning their own home, which they are still paying for. Little Benjamín becomes mute as a result of the impact of his mother's death. Vicente is a kind and sensitive man who has taken care of his family's financial stability: Doña Magos, his grandmother; Juan Gabriel and Pepe Pepe, his younger brothers.
The lives of Natalia and Vicente come together when he and the other creditors come to the real estate company to claim the money that was swindled from them. Natalia representing her husband, together with Mario, plead for time for them to be able to compensate the financial damage.
Natalia is left with only one house in a popular neighborhood where she must move in with her daughters. When she arrives, she finds out that Vicente is the supposed owner of the house, since he signed an invalid sales contract, which makes Natalia the real owner. Vicente refuses to receive them and Natalia, without hesitating, moves into the house that both will now share with their respective families, causing conflicts between the characters due to social and cultural differences.
Living together brings Natalia and Vicente closer. Without realizing it, he has fallen in love with the righteousness, tenacity, strength, decision, tenderness and kindness that she has displayed, especially with her son Benjamín; little by little Natalia will discover that after all the pain and sadness she has gone through, she is ready to give herself a second chance, and this time it will be with Vicente. Olga, who only wants to fulfill her whim of marrying him, hates Natalia and stirs up strong intrigues that separate them.
After overcoming adversity, our protagonists will confirm that real fortune is to be found in love.
Your Love Is My Fortune (Mí Fortuna Es Amarte) premieres 30 June.
eExtra is a general entertainment channel operated by eMedia Investments that offers a variety of telenovelas from Asia, India and Turkey. Through an ad, it has been announced that the broadcaster has picked up rights to the South Korean series Phoenix 2020 which is based on the 2004 drama, Phoenix.
eMedia Investments had chosen to distribute it as Phoenix with 2020 which derives from the year it was filmed dropped off. This will be the channel's first half hour Korean series with previous shows like High Society Scandal and Two Women that ran for a two hour duration.
Synopsis for Phoenix
Belonging to the wealthiest class and as the daughter of an influential chaebol family in Korea, Ji Eun grew up with everything. When she meets Se Hoon, who comes from an underprivileged family, he treats her like no other, and she falls in love with him. Although Ji Eun's family opposes their relationship, they get married. However, due to reoccurring conflicts, Ji Eun and Se Hoon become exhausted and end their marriage. Ten years later, fate ironically reverses their lives. Se Hoon, who is now a successful man, buys Ji Eun's house out of revenge. But when he stands in front of her as Willian Jang, he only wants to help her. Nonetheless, there is Mi Ran, with whom he is in a serious relationship with, and next to Ji Eun is her new love, Jung Min, who is devoted to her.
It starred Hong Soo Ah as Lee Ji Eun, Lee Jae Woo as Jang Sae Hoon / William Jang, Seo Ha Joon as Seo Jung Min, Park Young Rin as Yoon Mi Ran and Yang Hye Jin as Cho Hyeon Sook.
MultiChoice Group Ltd and Canal+ SA on Tuesday said they are on track to clear all conditions in a deal that will see the French group take over the South African entertainment company.
Back on March 4, the two companies said they had extended the long stop date to October 8 from April 8 to fulfill all the conditions facing the proposed offer.
The proposed takeover is subject to clearance from South African competition authorities and other regulatory approvals continues.
Canal+ early in June last year improved its offer for MultiChoice to R 125 per share, a 67% premium to MultiChoice’s closing price of R 75 before Canal+ first approached MultiChoice investors on February 1 last year. The French group formally made the offer early in April.
Canal+’s mandatory offer to MultiChoice shareholders opened early in June last year and closes on April 25 this year.
In February, MultiChoice and Canal+ said they had concluded their discussions over the structure of MultiChoice after the takeover.
This proposed structure ensures that the MultiChoice acquisition complies with foreign control regulations and maintain MultiChoice’s broad-based black economic empowerment credentials, the two companies said then.
In terms of the proposed structure, MultiChoice will be restructured so that the current holder of the broadcasting licence in South Africa and the entity which contracts with South African subscribers, MultiChoice (Pty) Ltd or Licence Co, will be carved out of the MultiChoice group and will become an independent entity.
The remainder of MultiChoice’s video entertainment assets will remain part of the MultiChoice Group.
Licence Co will continue to hold the subscription broadcasting licence in South Africa,and it will continue to contract with MultiChoice’s South African subscribers.
