In a landmark $3 billion (approx. 55 billion rand) acquisition, French media giant Canal+ has officially taken full ownership of MultiChoice Group, the powerhouse behind DStv, GOtv, and SuperSport. This deal, approved by South Africa’s Competition Tribunal on July 23, 2025, transfers the remaining 55% of MultiChoice shares to Canal+, giving it complete control over Africa’s largest pay-TV network. With over 14.5 million subscribers across 50 Sub-Saharan countries, the acquisition is poised to reshape the continent’s media landscape ahead of its expected completion on October 8, 2025.
For Canal+, which already operates in 25 African countries, the move is a bold strategic leap. CEO Maxime Saada calls it “transformative,” signaling a push toward capturing up to 100 million African subscribers. The merger brings together Canal+’s French-language programming with MultiChoice’s dominant English and Portuguese offerings, forming a trilingual media behemoth. While this blend could enrich African content diversity, it raises concerns: Whose stories will dominate, and will local nuances be sacrificed in favor of global commercial appeal?
This is particularly pressing for Ugandan and East African content creators, many of whom have watched their visibility on DStv erode over recent years. Despite regulatory conditions to maintain MultiChoice’s South African HQ and invest 26 billion rand in local content, there are no concrete guarantees for creators outside South Africa. Independent filmmakers fear a further drift from grassroots storytelling toward sanitized, high-budget formats tailored for continental and global audiences rather than local realities.
While the deal opens doors to new funding, better infrastructure, and wider distribution, it could also deepen inequalities within the content ecosystem. The lack of clear commitments to underrepresented markets, such as Uganda, Rwanda, and parts of Francophone Africa, fuels skepticism. The joint Canal+/MultiChoice statement emphasizes support for South African content and sports but leaves creators elsewhere wondering if they’ll be seen or heard in the post-merger era.
This acquisition marks more than a business milestone, it signals a crossroads for African media sovereignty. It’s a moment of possibility and peril. Will Canal+ champion inclusive, authentic African storytelling, or curate content to suit European tastes? For Africa’s diverse and vibrant creative community, the answer must be shaped not just in boardrooms, but through loud, local, and fearless storytelling that refuses to be sidelined.
