Could Canal+ Have Some Implication In MultiChoice's Settlement With eMedia Investments And The SABC?

In 2022, eMedia Investments and MultiChoice entered a carriage dispute regarding eToonz, eMovies, eMovies Extra and eExtra on DStv. This case was dragged on for approximately two and a half years and by last year both companies managed to join hands although not closing any details.

Aside from channels, MultiChoice had been beefing with the company alongside the SABC regarding sporting rights. With the public broadcaster technically insolvent, SuperSport had made numerous attempts to get these matches on SABC's stations by even restricting the likes of Openview.

This too was dragged to court with eMedia Investments getting the last laugh as regulators sided with them on the notion that it's anti-competitive. To make a long story short, this too was settled with individual parties remaining hush on the matter.

Speculation going around is that Canal+ may have some involvement regarding the matter with these broadcasters. As some know, MultiChoice is undergoing a takeover and they're hoping to appease regulators even going as far as spinning off its crown jewel, DStv.

Competition Tribunal is one of those various parties they need to seek approval from regarding this transaction which is deemed a large merger. Often, they seek the opinions of various parties that have been around MultiChoice over the years it could be Cape Town TV, Telkom or even SABC for that matter even. 

With DStv undergoing a potential restructure in South Africa this notion does bares a lot of fruit when you look at it. When someone decides to put a house up for sale, they usually sprouse things up in order to attract potential buyers and more money enters the equation when you do those necessary renovations.

If eMedia Investments and SABC are being dragged into this exchange between Canal+ and MultiChoice one has to wonder what opinions they'll formulate. Back when MultiChoice was led by Naspers, they had threatened to drop eNCA and various other local broadcasters from DStv if they went ahead with the encryption of the STB.

Could this be what prompted for eToonz and eMedia's other Openview channels to be reinstated and SuperSport Schools inclusion on SABC+? We'll have to wait and see how this case unfolds.

April 2025 On Universal TV And E! Entertainment Across Africa | Returning Shows: Wild Cards Season 2 | Continuing Shows Including Watch What Happens Live | More

Universal TV 

WILD CARDS

Season 2 – Territory Premiere

Premieres Monday 21st April, 8pm

Ellis must set aside his sense of hurt at Max’s betrayal to work with her on a new case involving the dangerous, adrenaline-fuelled world of high speed street racing.

NCIS

Season 20 – Channel Premiere

Continues Mondays at 8pm, double billed; season finale 14th April

Season 20 comes to its exciting climax, as the team’s cases include the murder of a senator’s daughter, a killing in the National Archive and a domestic terror attack.

Continuing shows include HUDSON & REX Season 7 on Tuesdays at 8pm, LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT Season 26 on Wednesdays at 8pm and MAGNUM P.I. on Season 5 on Fridays at 8pm.

E! Entertainment 

Below Deck Sailing Yacht

Season 5 Launches Sunday 6th April at 18:10 – Single Bills

Every Sunday

The hit franchise charts a new course with its latest iteration, Below Deck Sailing Yacht. Join the crew as they tackle all that life at sea has to throw at them – on E!

Continuing shows include E! News on Tuesdays to Fridays at 22:00 and Watch What Happens Live on Mondays to Fridays at 22:30.

Canal+ Delays The MultiChoice Acquisition For Another 6 Months

DStv owner Multichoice Group and French media giant Canal+ have jointly announced an extension to the ‘long stop date’ tied to their R55 billion merger deal.

The long stop date—initially set at 8 April 2025—is when all the conditions for implementing Canal+’s takeover offer must be fulfilled or waived.

However, the groups said the necessary merger control clearance from South African competition authorities and the relevant regulatory processes will not be complete by this date.

As these processes are ongoing, the groups have agreed to extend the date to 8 October 2025.

“MultiChoice and Canal+ are of the view that this provides ample time for the fulfilment of the conditions,” the company said.

“Save for the extension of the long stop date, the terms of the offer remain unchanged,” it added.

Maxime Saada, CEO of Canal+ said the extension reflects the group’s commitment to the deal.

“The timing of this transaction is critical, and we will continue working tirelessly to ensure the finalisation of the transaction within this timeframe to ensure it retains its intended value and impact for all stakeholders,” he said.

Canal+ has offered to buy the remaining shares in Multichoice that it does not already own for R125 per share, valuing the group at R55 billion. The group currently has a 45% shareholding of Multichoice.

To get the deal done, the transaction must navigate a minefield of government regulations, including risks of violating South Africa’s Electronic Communications Act (ECA) and competition regulators.

Multichoice and Canal+ previously laid out a complex post-merger structure that attempts to circumvent these pitfalls, including the conditions on licences that restrict foreign ownership to 20% of voting rights.

To get around this, the post-merger group intends to split off the broadcast licence and subscriber base to a new company called “LicenceCo” which will be majority owned by BEE shareholders.

The Multichoice/Canal+ group would own 49% of this company, with 20% voting rights.

While the groups have a solid plan to get past the ECA restrictions, the deal still has to pass the Competition Commission/Tribunal, the Financial Surveillance Department, the JSE, the Takeover Regulation Panel, and the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa).

Each step poses its own challenges and potential pitfalls, but Multichoice has assured that customers and subscribers will not be disrupted by the machinations happening in the background.

The article was originally published by Business Tech

NEW SERIES ALERT!!! Iron Man: Armored Adventures (Play Room) + Doodloopstraat (eVOD) + Uthando Lukamama (VIU)

This is incoming if you're viewer in South Africa, as you already heard Play Room, VIU and eVOD has rolled out new content in the new month without any notice to the media and they go as follows:

Iron Man: Armored Adventures S2 (Play Room)

The series follows the adventures of a younger version of Tony Stark and his alter ego of Iron Man. As Iron Man, he uses his technological inventions to fight other similarly technologically advanced threats. His friends James "Rhodey" Rhodes and Pepper Potts help him on his courageous and dangerous adventures.

Broadcast on Disney XD, Iron Man: Armored Adventures consists of 26 episodes and features Black Widow, Hawkeye, Doctor Doom, Magneto, and Justin Hammer appear in this season.

Doodloopstraat (eVOD, Turkey)

Cennet marries Yılmaz, whom she fell in love with, and comes to Istanbul from her village as a bride and as a result of their marriage, they have three children. Division ensues amongst the children as their dad is blamed for her death in a letter she had written prior to her passing which leds to a search for the truth and self discovery.

Broadcast on TRT1 as Yürek Çıkmazı, it starred Ayça Bingöl as Cennet Tekin, Alp Navruz as Halil Tekin, İrem Helvacıoğlu as Av. Zeynep Önder, Mesut Akusta as Yılmaz Tekin, Bihter Dinçel as Birsen Karataş, Dilara Aksüyek as Feride Büyükdere.

Uthando Lukamama (VIU, Brazilian)

Lurdes, Vitória and Thelma are three women from different social classes that live their dilemmas as mothers. Lurdes is a struggling woman who is in search for her child after her ex-husband sold them to a child trafficker. Vitória becomes an unexpected single mother following a one night stand. Thelma is an overprotective mom who discovers that she has an incurable brain aneurysm.

Broadcast on Globo TV as Amor De Mãe, it starred Regina Casé as Lurdes dos Santos Silva, Adriana Esteves as Thelma Nunes Viana, Taís Araújo as Vitória Amorim, Isis Valverde as Betina Torres da Nóbrega, Humberto Carrão as Sandro Amorim Camargo and Chay Suede as Danilo Lopes Viana.

Afrikaans Voice Actors For Gelukbringers

Donnie Yen Easter Special Launches In April On KIX Across Africa

Donnie Yen Easter Double Special

18 -21 APRIL

EVERY NIGHT @ 7 PM (CAT) | 6 PM (WAT) | 8 PM (EAT)

Celebrate Easter with Donnie Yen's double bill titles 

and gear up for an action-packed holiday!

Iceman

18 April 

Cast: Donnie Yen, Eva Huang, Simon Yam

An imperial guard framed for treason is buried with three guards during a battle and kept frozen. Unearthed 400 years later in modern times, their battle continues…

Iceman The Time Traveler

19 April 

Cast: Donnie Yen, Eva Huang, Simon Yam, Wang Bao Qiang

In this sequel, the four imperial guards are defrosted and reanimated in modern times. With different motives in mind, they strive to find their way back in time…

Ip Man   

20 April

Cast: Donnie Yen, Gordon Lam, Lynn Xiong

Set during the Sino-Japanese War, Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man is forced to leave home and work to support his family by teaching martial arts skills for self-defense.

Ip Man 2   

21 April

Cast: Donnie Yen, Sammo Hung, Huang Xiao Ming

Ip Man and his family moves to Hong Kong to start a martial arts school but he must first overcome the challenges put forth to him by the local martial arts grandmasters.

Is eMedia Investments Betting It's Future On eVOD As Cable Starts To Erode?

eVOD is a South African based streaming service operated by eMedia Investments that distributes locally produced and international content. It is currently rivalling with MultiChoice's Showmax, Netflix, VIU and Amazon Prime Video who offer an alternative and expansive lineup.

As seen in 2024, eMedia Investments decided to shutter both OUTtv and FUSE from Openview's pay-tv add-on Ultraview after broadcasting for less than a year. Further content from these brands had been allocated on the eVOD streaming service under a hub known as OUTtv Proud.

eMedia Investments hadn't stated why these channels were offloaded from Openview but if we had to guess the fault may have fallen on current market conditions. As it stands, their competitors DStv has seen a dip in subscriptions and Ultraview is struggling to find it's flock with those consumers.

At this stage, we wouldn't be shocked if the remaining lineup of Ultraview which comprise of Zee Family and Star Select were to join OUTtv on eVOD if not shut down. Bollywood programming has resonated with Openview viewers and eVOD was built on consumer's preferences.

Of course, what's interesting about OUTtv's integration with streaming is that all the content has been locked away from Openview consumers. It comes on eVOD at no additional charge but to date none of the content has yet to make entry on eMedia's linear platforms.

This is what consumers had already seen with local dramas Stout, uMbali and Splintered Pieces so I can only assume similar to Showmax, eMedia Investments is trying to give eVOD some independence. They don't want consumers to regard it as a repeats or catch-up service like SABC+ so they're banking on new content.

eMedia Investments had boasted about turning eVOD into the Netflix of South Africa and that could as well mean curating content specifically for the platform.

This trend had been seen with Disney+ and ABC, Max and HBO even Showmax and M-Net so it would only seem logical for eMedia Investments to follow soon. They do operate 8 channels (4 of which are on DStv) each with their own offering so again it's not shocking that eVOD would gain some independence.

With the government looking to turn off analogue signals in the coming future, eMedia Investments is expected to see a dip in ad revenue. I can only imagine similar to Showmax, they're looking to make eVOD profitable even if that means taking a chunk of content away from Openview.

Drake And Josh (GBA)

Based on the animated series of the same name, the player controls Drake and Josh in a variety of modes featuring problem solving, stealth, strategy and action-style gameplay. The game uses a password feature to save progress.

Download Now