CANAL+ makes major move to acquire MultiChoice

French TV giant CANAL+ Group made a major move in the battle for the coveted African eyeballs 📺🌍.

According to Digital TV Research, Africa will count 57 million pay TV subscribers by 2028 and reach USD 6.4 billion in value.

🌍 Canal+ broadcasts in 25 countries (mostly in French-speaking African countries) counted 7.5 million subscribers in 2022, while MultiChoice is expected to reach 37% of market share by 2028.

💸 In October 2020, Canal+ acquired 12% in Multichoice and increased its stake to 32% in February 2023.

Yesterday, Canal+ offered to buy Multichoice in a deal that values MultiChoice at USD 2.5 billion 💰 

Why is this major ❓ 

Together, they would become the largest African media business, boosting local content creation and making African sports accessible to larger audiences.

🏟 On the sports field, CANAL+ has acquired rights for key competitions to broadcast to African audiences. It most recently acquired the rights to the Saudi Pro League, where last season 40 players of African nationality or origins played.

🇨🇮 In Côte d’Ivoire, Canal+ has been doubling down on producing and broadcasting local sports leagues. Seven years ago, it signed a deal to broadcast the First Division Ivorian Football Championship. This deal played a major role in bringing in the national lottery company LONACI as a title sponsor. Canal+ in Côte d’Ivoire also signed a partnership with the Basketball Federation.

⚽️ Unlike MultiChoice’s SuperSport, CANAL+ had made plans around AFCON2023 early. It even created a special channel for the competition with over 500 hours of content (through documentaries, experts commentaries) called “CANAL+ CAN”.

There is speculation around what a combined Canal+ / Multichoice group could do for streaming in Africa 📲.

While Multichoice just rebooted its streaming service Showmax with the support of Sky and NBCUniversal (which now owns 30% of Showmax), Canal+ has also developed its own app and an affiliated digital content creation studio (the Digital Factory). A combination of Canal+ and Multichoice could lead to more lucrative TV rights and sponsorship deals for African sports competitions.

The question remains : are we ready to let a foreign-owned company have so much control of African content creation and African sports ? 🤔French TV giant CANAL+ Group made a major move in the battle for the coveted African eyeballs 📺🌍.

According to Digital TV Research, Africa will count 57 million pay TV subscribers by 2028 and reach USD 6.4 billion in value.
🌍 Canal+ broadcasts in 25 countries (mostly in French-speaking African countries) counted 7.5 million subscribers in 2022, while MultiChoice is expected to reach 37% of market share by 2028.
💸 In October 2020, Canal+ acquired 12% in Multichoice and increased its stake to 32% in February 2023.

Yesterday, Canal+ offered to buy Multichoice in a deal that values MultiChoice at USD 2.5 billion 💰

Why is this major ❓

Together, they would become the largest African media business, boosting local content creation and making African sports accessible to larger audiences.
🏟 On the sports field, CANAL+ has acquired rights for key competitions to broadcast to African audiences. It most recently acquired the rights to the Saudi Pro League, where last season 40 players of African nationality or origins played.
🇨🇮 In Côte d’Ivoire, Canal+ has been doubling down on producing and broadcasting local sports leagues. Seven years ago, it signed a deal to broadcast the First Division Ivorian Football Championship. This deal played a major role in bringing in the national lottery company LONACI as a title sponsor. Canal+ in Côte d’Ivoire also signed a partnership with the Basketball Federation.
⚽️ Unlike MultiChoice’s SuperSport, CANAL+ had made plans around AFCON2023 early. It even created a special channel for the competition with over 500 hours of content (through documentaries, experts commentaries) called “CANAL+ CAN”.

There is speculation around what a combined Canal+ / Multichoice group could do for streaming in Africa 📲.

While Multichoice just rebooted its streaming service Showmax with the support of Sky and NBCUniversal (which now owns 30% of Showmax), Canal+ has also developed its own app and an affiliated digital content creation studio (the Digital Factory). A combination of Canal+ and Multichoice could lead to more lucrative TV rights and sponsorship deals for African sports competitions.

The question remains : are we ready to let a foreign-owned company have so much control of African content creation and African sports ? 🤔