Rumour: Nigerian Idol Reportedly Cancelled Due To Cost Cutting At Canal+'s MultiChoice

Canal+ completed its acquisition of MultiChoice by late 2025 and have plans to save up toward R7.5 billion in costs. Several DStv consumers would have noticed the disappearance of HBO content on M-Net followed by the Winter Olympics on SuperSport.

Now there's word going around that Nigerian Idol might have gotten the boot at MultiChoice. Although this has yet to be confirmed several consumers had noticed there's been a lot of silence regarding the possibility of an 11th season.

Coincidentally, Nigerian Idol S10 even won at the 2026 Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards for Best Unscripted M-Net Original.

A few years ago, MultiChoice and M-Net cancelled Idols SA due to low viewership from what was heard about the show. Since then, it was reported that a revival was in the works or being shopped to another broadcaster being the SABC.

The first season went on air in October 2010 and is shown on 15 different channels all across Africa.

There have been ten following Nigerian Idol winners to date: Onyekachi Elizabeth Gilbert, Mercy Chinwo, Moses Obi Adigwe, Evelle, K-Peace, Kingdom Kroseide, Progress, Victory Gbakara, Purp and Chima Udoye.

With the possible cancellation of Nigerian Idol, this would leave DStv consumers with the African variants to Big Brother. Unlike Idols SA, Big Brother continues to be a staple at MultiChoice spanning adaptations in South Africa, Nigeria and Angola.

CANAL+ Becomes First French Company To List In Johannesburg

Shares of pay-TV group CANAL+ rose on its Johannesburg Stock Exchange trading debut on Wednesday, when it became the first French company to list in South Africa following a deal with local broadcaster MultiChoice Group last year.

The company, which has a primary listing in London, climbed to 58.50 rand at market open

At the time of CANAL+’s acquisition of MultiChoice in 2025, it said it would have a secondary listing in South Africa, providing a boost for Johannesburg’s stock exchange, which has suffered from a series of departures and few high-profile joiners in recent years.

CANAL+, which had a market capitalisation of £2.25 billion (51 billion rand) on the day prior to its pre-listing announcement on May 12, is the only global media and entertainment group on the exchange.

Its move into English-speaking Africa reflects its stated ⁠ambition to become a global entertainment platform across Europe, Africa and Asia.

CEO Maxime Saada said the Johannesburg secondary listing aligns the group’s capital, government relationships and creative resources with African investors, partners and audiences.

“Our hope is for this listing to enhance the liquidity of our shares, to broaden our shareholder base and to support our growth ambitions. But more than that, we believe that we can create value in Africa,” he told spectators before blowing into a Kudu horn to signal the company’s market debut.

JSE chairman Phuthuma Nhleko said the listing reflects strong global confidence in South Africa’s capital markets, reinforcing the bourse’s role in linking international capital with African growth opportunities, and highlights continued belief in the continent’s long-term prospects.

The Showmax Closure Is Just An Illustration Of What's Wrong With The Industry

During the year, MultiChoice decided to shut down its struggling Showmax streaming service after ramping up billions in loses. This comes two years after the company revamped the streamer alongside Comcast's NBCUniversal and Sky Group.

For years, MultiChoice has been trying to make Showmax "the Netflix for Africa" by ramping up local content for the streamer which includes Blood Psalms, The Girl From St. Agnes and Red Ink.

By partnering up with NBCUniversal, Showmax was able to compete with Stranger Things, Squid Games and Bojack Horseman on Netflix. This was due to the funnel of content coming from Universal Pictures, DreamWorks Animation and Telemundo.

Now most of that is set to be consolidated under DStv Stream and overtime on the Canal+ app.

To put it in simple terms, the closure of Showmax doesn't mean that Canal+ will double down on local spending to make up for the loss of Showmax. It's what you had with your M-Net Edge and M-Net alongside Disney XD and Disney Channel.

Although Canal+ can't retrench anyone that was contracted with Showmax, they're less likely to recruit more talent. The plan would be to let whatever makes up Showmax run its course until there's no use for it anymore.

The problem here isn't that Showmax is shutting down but the fact is the number of outlets local suppliers and talent would turn to is being reduced.

Amazon Prime Video served as another Showmax rival commissioning first run shows in the African market. Now these investments have gone to Europe and the US, although there's still local content it's mostly finished and not from scratch.

Netflix is probably in much better position compared to Amazon Prime Video as there's still some local investment. But the problem here is that it's mainly unscripted/reality TV and the streamer has adapted to a quality over quantity approach in Africa.

There's been calls for SABC and eMedia Investments to save the day but even they can't replicate or recover those hours used by Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or Showmax.

SABC has been going through financial constraints for years and last month their cash balance plummeted to 85% leaving them with 59 million. The National Treasury denied them a bailout of R4.9 billion to help in covering these expenses.

eMedia Investments managed to increase its profits by 18% but they did that through cost optimisation or in simple terms spending less. 

To sum it up, Amazon has stopped funding new productions while Netflix is being picky and the only brand that was pulling out the big guns (Showmax) is shutting down. SABC doesn't have any money while eMedia Investments is playing it safe.

The streaming climate in the whole of Africa is going through drought.

Even if the government were to impose new laws over ownership fact is Showmax ain't coming back and the damage had already been done. 

The government had proposed putting up local quotas on a streamer like Netflix and they could as well take a page from Amazon Prime Video. While others like Disney could follow NBCUniversal and form alliances to avoid compliance.

e.tv Is Reviving It's International Drama Slate With The Launch Of Law And Order: Special Victims Unit

Following the rollout of eVOD, eMedia Investments restructured e.tv's primetime schedule a few years back making shows like Chicago PD and Kingdom available to only Openview consumers. While e.tv bolstered it's lineup to feature more local content.

The shift away from international drama series was done to ensure e.tv remained competitive in an era dominated by streaming. And while the move was met with positive feedback some viewers kind of felt marginalized.

After 4 years, e.tv will be reinstating them with Law And Order: Special Victims Unit set to rollout weeknights at 23:00. The series is currently seen on Universal TV on DStv and eSeries on Openview.

This move would give DStv Access and Easyview consumers the chance to watch the crime drama from the first season. In general, Law And Order: Special Victims Unit has 27 seasons so far and over 590 episodes had been produced.

Synopsis for Law And Order: Special Victims Unit 

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (often shortened to Law & Order: SVU) is an American police procedural crime drama television series created by Dick Wolf for NBC. The first spin-off of Law & Order, expanding it into the Law & Order franchise, it originally starred Christopher Meloni as Detective Elliot Stabler (until Meloni left the series in 2011 after 12 seasons) and Mariska Hargitay as Detective (now promoted to Captain) Olivia Benson remaining the longest starring character in the series. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit follows the detectives of the Special Victims Unit as they investigate and prosecute sex-based crimes. Some of the episodes are loosely based on real crimes that have received media attention.

Based out of the New York City Police Department's 16th precinct in Manhattan, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit delves into the dark side of the New York underworld as the detectives of a new elite squad, the Special Victims Unit, investigate and prosecute various sexually oriented crimes, including rape, child sexual abuse, human trafficking, and domestic violence. They also investigate the abuses of children, the disabled and elderly victims of non-sexual crimes who require specialist handling, all while trying to balance the effects of the investigation on their own lives as they try not to let the dark side of these crimes affect them.

Imfihlakalo, Brand New Series Launches On Zee Zonke

Zee Zonke, a Zulu dubbed Bollywood channel operated by Zee Entertainment Enterprises has announced the addition of a new series, Imfihlakalo. Known in India as Sehajveer, the series will air daily at 20:00 from Thursday 11 June.

Synopsis for Imfihlakalo

Under one identity, Jasmeet Kaur Gagre stars as Sehajveer, a woman who serves as an elite, fearless Special Crime Branch officer (associated with the Special Task Force / STF). She uncovers criminal conspiracies, tracks down syndicates, and enforces the law. 

Under her alternative identity, she works as a humble, soft-spoken educator at a local NGO. Here, she focuses on protecting and empowering underprivileged children. 

Her personal and professional worlds collide through her complex dynamic with Kabir (played by Ramandeep Singh Sur). Over the course of the series, their relationship shifts dramatically from working together to being caught in intense legal and criminal stalemates. At various points, Kabir faces custody, transfer threats, and murder accusations regarding her safety. 

Ruthless villains like Vikram and Sheetal consistently orchestrate traps, blackmail, and leverage family members to force Sehajveer into impossible situations—including demands to compromise her duty. 

The plot heavily features standard domestic Punjabi drama. Family members like Gurleen and Meher frequently challenge her secrecy, which forces her to constantly balance her dangerous police duties with her responsibilities at home. 

Canal+ Has Begun Developing Its Showmax Replacement Service In MultiChoice Markets

MultiChoice had closed down the Showmax streaming service as part of Canal+'s cost cutting endeavours at the company. After accumulating multiple losses, Canal+ had consolidated the rest of its content under DStv Stream.

Canal+ as anticipated will be phasing out it's DStv Stream and GOtv Stream services for its own streaming app. This is because a DStv consumer had spotted various regional domains although the logo is the only thing spotted for now.

They are aiming to get this Canal+ service up and running as soon as possible from what I heard. They are looking to get Netflix and a couple of services likely from the Explora Ultra such as Amazon Prime Video, YouTube and Disney+.

MultiChoice had also provided a website for M-Net, DStv and GOtv, and I can only guess those will be getting phased out soon. As a user of the Canal+ service, they do have a section for the packages and content in question.

With a Canal+ buyout, I doubt MultiChoice will have that many websites under their wing soon my guess is that they only the corporate one and that of Irdeto and SuperSport.

Not long ago, MultiChoice had also begun tests on Sporty TV for its consumers across Africa. Kind of curious on whether this had anything to do with the rollout of the Canal+ app I mean MultiChoice had also offered YouTube through its Explora Ultra.

Some people don't even realise this thing about Canal+ but they serve as aggregators bundling services from rival broadcasters as seen in France with Bein Sport, DAZN and Apple TV.