French media giant Canal+ said Thursday it would discontinue loss-making South African streaming service Showmax after acquiring its owner MultiChoice, the continent’s largest pay-TV enterprise.
The streaming platform, launched by MultiChoice in 2015, is available in at least 44 African countries and has been a home for African films and TV series.
“MultiChoice, part of CANAL+ SA … today announces the forthcoming discontinuation of the Showmax service,” Canal+ said in a statement.
“The substantial annual losses experienced by the Showmax business have proved unsustainable.”
The move would not cause any job losses, the statement said, adding MultiChoice planned to deploy its own “in-house large-scale streaming platform” for African and international customers.
Showmax confirmed the discontinuation in an email sent to subscribers saying the move aimed to ensure “long-term sustainability in an increasingly competitive streaming environment”.
The September buyout of MultiChoice by Canal+, valued at around $3 billion, created a group present in 70 countries across Africa, Europe and Asia with a workforce of 17,000 serving more than 40 million subscribers.
The company said it was the largest transaction ever undertaken by Canal+.
Already the sector’s leader in French-speaking African countries, the French company said at the time of the acquisition that MultiChoice was the leader in the continent’s English- and Portuguese-speaking regions.
AFP
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