MultiChoice Group (JSE:MCG), Africa’s largest pay-TV operator
and owner of the DStv and GOtv platforms, has lost 2.8mn
subscribers since March 2023, with its base falling from 17.3mn to
14.5mn over two years, according to new investor materials
published by new owner Groupe Canal+.
The French media conglomerate’s presentation showed declines not
only in subscriber numbers but also in group revenue and trading
profit, underscoring a multi-year structural shift in viewing
habits across South Africa and the wider continent, My
Broadband reported.
Subscriber losses have been most visible in South Africa, where
the company has been shedding high-value DStv Premium customers
since 2016. That year coincided with Netflix’s global rollout,
which expanded streaming competition into MultiChoice’s core
market.
MultiChoice initially offset domestic declines through growth in
lower-tier packages and Rest of Africa operations. Following its
2019 spin-off from Naspers (JSE:NPN), the company began grouping
DStv Premium with Compact Plus under a single “Premium market
segment,” temporarily masking the downturn until the combined
category also began falling in 2021.
The firm later switched to reporting subscriber numbers under a
90-day active metric rather than its traditional 31 March and 30
September counts. This enabled MultiChoice to show short-term
growth even as South Africa’s year-end subscriber base entered
decline in 2022.
By 2023, growth in the Rest of Africa also reversed, with both
year-end and 90-day active subscriber numbers deteriorating across
the group. MultiChoice’s 2024 and 2025 disclosures show the decline
becoming broad-based, reflecting intensifying competition from
global streamers and mobile-first video platforms.
Groupe Canal+, a subsidiary of Vivendi that is pursuing final
regulatory clearance for its takeover of MultiChoice, has said it
aims to stabilise performance through deeper integration, expanded
streaming offerings and operational restructuring across African
markets.
© 2025 bne IntelliNews, source Magazine
