Canal+ Is Now In Full Control Of MultiChoice After Securing The Remaining 48% Stake + More Restructuring Underway

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French media company Canal+ SA has completed its acquisition of South African pay-TV operator MultiChoice Group Limited, securing a 48.2% stake in the company, according to a joint announcement released Monday.

The transaction, which Canal+ described as its largest ever, creates a global media and entertainment group serving more than 40 million subscribers across nearly 70 countries in Africa, Europe, and Asia, with approximately 17,000 employees.

Canal+ directly owns 46.0% of MultiChoice shares and has received acceptances for an additional 2.2%, making its mandatory cash offer of 125 South African rand per share now unconditional.

Following the acquisition, MultiChoice has restructured its board with Maxime Saada, CEO of Canal+, appointed as Chairman. David Mignot will serve as CEO and Nicolas Dandoy as CFO of Canal+ African operations, which includes MultiChoice. Former MultiChoice CEO Calvo Mawela will chair Canal+ African operations.

The company has completed a corporate reorganization to comply with South African broadcasting regulations regarding foreign ownership. As a result, voting scale-back provisions that previously restricted foreign shareholders’ voting rights have been removed.

In South Africa, Canal+ has committed to supporting firms controlled by Historically Disadvantaged Persons and maintaining funding for local entertainment and sports content produced by South African creators.

MultiChoice will change its financial year-end from March 31 to December 31 to align with Canal+’s reporting period.

Canal+ plans to provide a strategic update on the combined group, including detailed plans and expected synergies, during the first quarter of 2026.

Warner TV Might Be Getting A Name Change

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Warner TV is a general entertainment channel operated by Warner Bros. Discovery who by next year will be split into two separate companies, Warner Bros. and Discovery Global. Similar to Cartoon Network, Warner TV might be undergoing several changes in the coming months. 

Warner TV built it's existence on the Warner Bros. studios lot with a variety of drama series, animated shows and films. For sometime, Warner TV had been extending it's reach in Europe replacing several TNT channels and while some do remain active they have since been flagged as Warner TV.

With this split, I'd imagine the content would be undergoing some type of restructure and Discovery being loaded with debt will likely minimise the amount of content licensed from Warner Bros. They have content from HGTV, Discovery Channel and Food Network maybe that's what fate might await those channels.

As for the name, Warner TV or at least the trademark belongs to Warner Bros. so it's most likely that Discovery will look to rename these brands in the coming months or later in 2026. Best guess would be that channels to have gotten folded under Warner TV revert back to their previous trademark being TNT.

I mean it wouldn't seem far fetched as you look at the streaming service HBO Max which was shortened to Max to alienate it from HBO only for them to abandon those plans. Same thing with the merger between WarnerMedia and Discovery which formed the controversial Warner Bros. Discovery.

If WarnerMedia had retained its cable networks before merging with Discovery I bet it wouldn't be called Warner Bros. whose linear portfolio is limited to just HBO. Global within Discovery wouldn't be there had it not been for Warner's fleet of networks.

BET's Potential Closure Or Exit From Audiences On DStv And The Rest Of Africa Explained

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A few months ago, it was reported that Paramount Global prior to its acquisition by Skydance Media is looking to halt local operations in Africa. According to some insiders, Paramount Global is also looking into possibly closing BET and MTV Base in the region.

MultiChoice in a response had stated that they were monitoring the situation and would communicate in due course.

As some consumers know, BET Africa has been seen as the flagship network for shows like Being Mary Jane, The Real Husbands Of Hollywood and Tyler Perry's House Of Payne. It also offered local productions such as uBettina Wethu, Redemption and DJ Zinhle: Bossing Up.

If Paramount Global is looking to do away with BET Africa a number of reasons would factor into this.

When it comes to scale, BET doesn't have much of a global presence as seen with Paramount's other cable networks such as MTV and Comedy Central. The only reason it managed to sustain its operations in Africa is due to the pipeline of local content being funded by Paramount Global.

SABC even MultiChoice's M-Net serve as rivals to BET with shows like Generations: The Legacy, Deal Or No Deal SA, Sibongile And The Dlaminis and Date My Family. In viewers, these shows can get anywhere from 500,000 to a million viewers while Queendom on BET could only garner less than half.

In the UK, Paramount has been trying to push the brand to streaming and seeing as Showmax is the exclusive home to Paramount+. I can only assume a similar strategy is awaiting viewers in Africa with the focus shifting on MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon.

eToonz Acquires Pinkalicious And Peterrific Following The Exit Of PBS Kids In Africa, Also Debuts New Series Tree Fu Tom

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Last year, PBS Distribution halted it's international operations for PBS Kids meaning DStv consumers would lose out on shows like Arthur, Cyberchase and Wild Kratts. Since then, eMedia Investments had been licensing shows from the brand for its eToonz channel.

This includes shows like Let's Go Luna in which PBS Kids had never licensed for Africa but oddly made available to MultiChoice's streaming service, Showmax. With eToonz now looking to allocate one of the former shows of PBS Kids, Pinkalicious And Peterrific.

Synopsis for Pinkalicious And Peterrific 

Designed to encourage preschool-age children to explore the arts and develop their creativity, Pinkalicious & Peterrific follows the adventures of Pinkalicious and her brother Peter as they imagine how the world looks through her artful eye. Each episode consists of two 11 minute stories, including an interstitial live-action segment and an original song.

Pinkalicious And Peterrific airs Wednesdays at 15:30 from 1 October and two days later eToonz will be allocating another preschool series, Tree Fu Tom.

Synopsis for Tree Fu Tom 

In each episode, Tom comes out of his house, puts on a power belt, and runs across his lawn towards a crooked tree in the woods protected by a magic shield. Using the power belt, he performs some Tree Fu moves, jumps up, shrinks to insect size as he flies into the tree, and enters the world of Treetopolis. He is skilled in that world's magic, and often gets characters out of scrapes. Some of the characters are four of Tom's friends, Twigs, Squirmtum, Ariela, and Zigzoo.

Australian Entertainment Platform Fetch TV Faces Another Shake-Up, With Paramount Set To Remove All Of Its Branded Pay TV Channels In The Region

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Effective 1 November 2025, Fetch has informed subscribers that the Ultimate Pack will lose a number of channels, including Nick Jr, Nickelodeon, Nick Music, MTV, MTV Hits, Club MTV, MTV 80s, MTV 90s and MTV 00s.

In a note to users, Fetch explained:

“There will also be changes to the inclusions in the Premium Channel packs as Paramount have made the decision to remove their Pay TV channels from all platforms within Australia.”

The move comes despite both companies reaching “an agreement on a long-term extension of their channel partnership” earlier in 2024, which had secured existing channels and introduced MTV 90s and MTV 00s as part of an expanded deal.

Paramount has gradually wound back its local pay TV offerings over the past two years. MTV left rival Foxtel in August 2023, while Nickelodeon switched from Foxtel to free-to-air Channel 13 around the same time, replacing the similarly programmed 10 Shake channel.

More recently, Comedy Central departed Fetch at the end of March 2025, followed by Paramount’s music channels exiting Foxtel in June. The locally programmed CMT (Country Music Channel) was also confirmed to wind down in Australia from the end of July.

In the coming months, Paramount is looking to a round of layoffs or budget cuts following its acquisition by Skydance Media. This would affect the company's local operations in Africa leading to the potential closures of MTV Base and BET in the region.

In Europe, Paramount is halt several MTV channels including Club MTV, NickMusic, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, MTV 00s by 31 December 2025. Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Nicktoons, MTV and Comedy Central are expected to remain in the region.