Canal+, now owner of MultiChoice, is looking to invest billions into acquiring new customers, getting subscribers who had dropped DStv back and retaining those already in its walled garden.
The decline in subscriber numbers for Africa’s largest pay-TV platform is well documented. The company’s struggle to retain clients is part of a satellite pay-TV industry-wide slump due to the rise of streaming services, changing consumer preferences and economic pressures.
In the 12 months to the end of March 2025, subscriber numbers — measured every 90 days — fell by 2.8-million and the company had to absorb a R10.2bn hit to its revenue due to local currency depreciation against the dollar.
Having recently taken control of the DStv operator, Canal+ has begun the work of assessing how the combination of the French broadcaster’s Africa unit and MultiChoice will operate in the future.
With a full plan expected in January 2026, David Mignot, CEO of the combined group, told Business Day the first order of business is winning back customers.
“To cut a long story short: to stop the bleeding, we need to invest a lot in distribution; it costs a lot to cover that cost. We have launched a larger selling plan, but most of the saving is coming from us being a bigger corporation and co-operation out of China, Europe and the US.”
According to Mignot, who has been CEO of Canal+ Africa since 2013, MultiChoice had decreased its investment in customer acquisition over the past three years.
In his view, the group has to “invest in commercials, sales, distribution and marketing”.
Before the takeover and in response to its bleeding, MultiChoice embarked on a cost-cutting programme while investing in its own streaming service, Showmax. Cost-cutting measures resulted in R3.7bn in savings, ahead of its R2.5bn target in the past financial year.
“[About] half of South African families today are active customers of MultiChoice, which is good. It could be higher, but still it’s good,” Mignot said.
“But still, if you don’t make the proper effort every year, being on the ground, in the field and acquiring new customers, then naturally you will have a decrease of your subscriber base. This is what’s happening.”
“We have to get back to investment on distribution.”
Business Day understands that such an investment would entail spending $100m (R1.71bn) a year generated through revenue and cost savings.
This would be good for the pay-TV operator’s ecosystem of distributors, marketing, communication agencies, activation, sales staff and small and medium-sized enterprises.
The group has already embarked on a series of campaigns to entice more people to subscribe to its services.
“We’ve made some assessments about the brand, about satisfaction of customers, which is still high,” Mignot said.
“We are providing more for the same prices on one side for existing customers, and for people who are keen to become customers, we are decreasing the entry cost.”
From November 7 to 9, all active DStv satellite customers got full access to every DStv Premium channel for three days as part of a promotion to get more people back to the platform. The group continues to lean on its strength in sport, leveraging the Springboks’ encounter with France at the weekend.
“People are keen to get a pay-TV subscription, but there is an out-of-pocket investment, which [includes] the cost of the box and installation, and it’s sensitive. We have to lower that cost as much as we can,” the entertainment boss said.
From the start of November, the group has reduced pricing on its HD decoder devices by 30% in retail channels and more than 40% through its newly launched DStv shop.
While pushing to boost income through increased customer numbers on one end, the company has also continued to cut costs on the other.
Mignot said most of the savings were coming from the merger and economies of scale resulting from being a bigger combined group.
“We managed to restructure the debt. The size of Canal+ is way lower than the risk out of MultiChoice alone. [So] we managed to generate good savings out of the interest on the debt.”
The French group has also made headway in negotiating lower rates with its Chinese supplier for electronic equipment.
“We are a big client on devices, dishes, set-top boxes and everything. Using the scale of the group, we are able to lower the price. And as of the first of November, we have already applied this discount in South Africa,” Mignot said.
Business Day
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