Recap To The Year: Guild Becomes New Home Of GINX TV For 25% Stake In Gaming Content Business

Guild Esports and Gaming has entered into a partnership agreement with GINX TV, a long-standing gaming video content, Digital, Web and TV broadcaster, that will see the company relocate all operations to Guild’s HQ, the Sky Guild Gaming Centre in Shoreditch, London, establishing a permanent live studio and gallery within the 15,000-square-foot venue.

The partnership will also provide an expansion of both businesses distribution network and provide opportunities for new, upcoming and established gaming creators to create and produce content.

Guild will collaborate with GINX TV to provide services and distribute content for partners, sponsors, and wider audiences. As part of the deal, rental of studio and office space will act as consideration for a convertible loan between Guild and GINX, equivalent to 25% ownership of GINX by Guild, if actioned.

The relocation of GINX TV from its previous home at Tileyard Studios in Kings Cross will take place immediately. This move further strengthens the position of Guild’s 15,000-square-foot HQ in Shoreditch, the Sky Guild Gaming Centre, as the UK’s premier gaming hub. This announcement comes just weeks after the launch of Drive Lounge at the same site, a public Sim Racing facility developed in partnership with Guild’s Sim Racing division, boasting 20 pro-level sim rigs and digital motorsport event space.

GINX TV, via its established linear/digital and social media distribution, provides its always-available live access to 20 million homes worldwide with over 35 million views of original content in 2024. Guild’s exclusively socially distributed content received 250m impressions across 2024. This partnership will see both parties be able to tap into learnings, audiences and networks to distribute partner content.

Nick Westwood, Chief Creative Officer of Guild Esports and Gaming, comments on the partnership:

“Following the first two years of our life as the Sky Guild Gaming Centre, where we welcomed thousands of guests across a variety of events, it was our desire this year to work with partners to fully maximise the space. With Drive Lounge, we have opened the doors to the public, and with GINX TV, we will now focus on utilising the venue to communicate outwardly to gamers through a variety of channels. We see a rapid shift in content distribution, both away from linear TV but also away from traditional ‘gaming’ channels to new, owned and operated channels. This partnership also provides our existing and future partners with turnkey broadcast solutions married to our turnkey esports and gaming venue offering, a real step forward for us, and GINX TV, as we build out propositions for brands, studios, streamers and publishers.”

Peter Einstein, Executive Chairman and CEO of GINX TV comments on the partnership:

“We are delighted to partner with Guild Esports and Gaming to create a strong and attractive engagement opportunity for brands to access the diverse gaming community. Our move to the Sky Guild Gaming Centre is a perfect way to collaborate and expand the gaming opportunity all under “one roof”. We are excited to bring our unique gaming and esports content publishing business to Shoreditch, where we will continue our provision of outstanding content to our international audience with the support of new partners.”

By leveraging the facilities and connectivity at the Sky Guild Gaming Centre, both organizations aim to drive innovation and expand their reach to global gaming audiences.

Canal+ To Launch Streaming Service MyCanal In Eastern Europe By The End Of 2026 Followed By Asia, Could It Replace DStv Stream And Showmax In Africa?

Canal+ is currently in the process of completing it's acquisition of MultiChoice after recieving a recommendation from the Competition Commission. Now the deal sits with the Competition Tribunal and Independent Communications Authority Of South Africa (ICASA) for further analysis. 

Reports going around is that MyCanal which is basically international version of DStv Stream and rival to Pluto TV from Paramount Global is looking to launch in Eastern Europe by the end of 2026 with Asia likely to follow in the first half of 2027.

The app combines a package of live content, replay and subscription video on demand. In addition to Canal’s own original content, it has also aggregated the platforms of Netflix, Apple TV+, HBO Max, Paramount+, BeIN, Eurosport and Dailymotion.

MyCanal currently operates in Africa namely Ghana, Liberia, Rwanda and Niger basically regions in which it pay-tv service resides. What was interesting about this report is that it mentioned Canal+ plans to rollout MyCanal in regions in which it operates.

With Canal+ currently pursuing MultiChoice who own Showmax and DStv Stream with VIU also operating in South Africa these could as well be potential candidates for its streaming endeavours.

After acquiring Netherland's SPI International, FilmBox+ serves as European equivalent of MyCanal with K+ in Vietnam so the idea of Showmax and DStv Stream fitting under this umbrella wouldn't seem far fetched a stretch.

Following the relaunch of Showmax with NBCUniversal, MultiChoice had mentioned that the number of activations had increased which indicates that the streamer has plenty of scale. This is where DStv Stream lacks as it serves as a companion app to the DStv satellite.

Some consumers have felt that DStv had become expensive even with its OTT counterpart having reduced rates for its dishless consumers. With the price of DStv Premium, consumers can pay for 5 streaming services making DStv Stream a liability.

Merging Showmax and DStv Stream would make it easier to market rather than splitting consumers and alienating them from content. DStv has a batch of channels whose content is not on Showmax and vice versa - merging could reduce those expenses.

Integrating these services could face various delays one being licensing agreements which MultiChoice could have extended for several years. Another has to do with NBCUniversal as they retain 30% in Showmax preventing full integration.

Canal+ could buy back the shares but NBCUniversal could prioritize it's streaming endeavours or want more money as seen with Hulu.

Showmax has been viewed as a direct competitor to DStv so Canal+ could look to reduce its investment perhaps by selling more shares. They do have this whole thing going on with VIU and I'd imagine them keeping a percentage in Showmax in order to tap the rest of Africa which VIU remains nonexistent.

But if I'm being rational, they could as well look to merge the two that's what happened when WarnerMedia and Discovery merged. They removed a ton of content (mainly animation) from Max and focused on adult programming while licensing it's other content to rival platforms.

MultiChoice Opens Up Canal+'s Channels To More DStv Customers In Africa

Canal+ is currently in the process of completing it's acquisition of MultiChoice after recieving a recommendation from the Competition Commission. Now the deal sits with the Competition Tribunal and Independent Communications Authority Of South Africa (ICASA) for further analysis. 

Amidst this endeavours, MultiChoice Africa (particularly Ghana) had decided to open up Canal+ Pop, Canal+ Cinema, Canal+ Action, Canal+ Sport 1, Nollywood TV, Novelas TV and A+ to DStv consumers from 19 June to 21 July.

For those who are unaware, MultiChoice and Canal+ have a bit of an overlap in certain African markets particularly Ghana, Liberia, Niger and Rwanda. In these markets, MultiChoice caters for English audiences and relied on Canal+ to serve the French as part of an add-on.

Think of DStv Indian and Portuguese packages in South Africa that's what Canal+'s offering comprise of within DStv. Of course, the reasoning of this transaction remains anonymous and if I had to guess it likely has to do Canal+'s ongoing transaction for MultiChoice.

If Canal+ is able to gobble up MultiChoice, I can imagine some of the local content seen on these brands particularly with A+ surface on Africa Magic. For sometime, Canal+ had been dubbing and distributing content from M-Net to audiences in Francophone Africa.

Sony Interested In Buying Warner Bros. Discovery After Split

Less than a week after Warner Bros. Discovery announced it was splitting into two separate companies, Sony is considering a purchase of WBD’s streaming and other assets.

Sources have told SEScoops that Sony is considering a purchase of the newly announced WBD Streaming and Studios company, which is expected to complete its separation from WBD Global Networks by mid-2026. Sony is interested in acquiring WBD’s HBO MAX streaming service, IPs and its gaming assets.

WBD announced on June 9 it was splitting the company, with most of the company’s $37 billion in debt attached to the WBD Global Networks, which include its vast number of cable channels, including CNN, TNT and TBS.

At the time the deal was announced, sources with knowledge of All-Elite Wrestling’s contract with WBD said no changes were expected with the company split.

Sony and Warner Bros. Discovery were working together to build a joint movie studio in Las Vegas this year. According to Variety, the proposal for the 31-acre facility ended on June 3 after the Nevada State Senate rejected a $95 million annual tax subsidy.

Sources said Sony was only interested acquiring WBD’s streaming, studio and gaming assets if they were separated from its cable networks, which have lost millions of homes as viewers abandon traditional cable packages.

David Zaslav, the current CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, is expected to take over WBD Streaming and Studios after the spin-off is complete in 2026. His status under a potential Sony purchase is unclear.

MultiChoice And SuperSport Aren't Threatened By Netflix And WWE Deal

Earlier in the year, WWE debuted on Netflix for consumers in US, UK and Canada as the streamer acquired exclusive rights to its flagship shows Raw, SmackDown and NXT alongside archived and premium live events. At the time, it was stated that Netflix would look to extend this to more markets.

In Africa, SuperSport held exclusive rights after its departure from e.tv in 2017 followed by another extension in 2022. At the time, SuperSport assured fans on DStv that it's rollout in some parts of the world wouldn't affect them.

During the week, MultiChoice unveiled their annual results for 31 March 2025 and within those documents MultiChoice addressed various topics one of which relate to WWE.

Since last year, various streaming platforms have started rivalling with SuperSport or as seen within this document YouTube + NFL and Amazon Prime Video + Prime Video Sport. MultiChoice in its defense highlights Premier League likely due to its tie-up to Showmax. 

To us this is sort of signal to SuperSport's impending disaster firstly with Ethiopian Premier League and in future (2027/8), WWE. This deal with Netflix is a global deal worth R94 billion and in some markets like Africa there is hurdles to getting this to the platform.

SuperSport in losing WWE would leave AEW on TNT as the only wrestling promotion on DStv unless that's removed as well with Amazon Prime Video and DAZN snatching rights to the promotion in some markets.

Even if SuperSport were to relinquish rights of AEW from TNT fact is WWE has a dedicated channel and AEW doesn't have enough content for such. To top it off, AEW lacks in scale and familiarity compared to WWE even with the presence of Jon Moxley and Chris Jericho.

That's what happened when e.tv attempted to use TNA to replace WWE the latter changed timeslots numerous times and moved exclusively to Openview before folding under StarTimes. It's likely that SuperSport will streamline its efforts and focus on its remaining lineup.

Even if Netflix has WWE with YouTube having NFL fact of the matter is they can't replicate SuperSport's diverse offering as it's expensive.