The shutting down of Multichoice's Showmax across parts of Africa marks the clearest signal that its parent company, Canal+, is rethinking the economics of building a continent-wide streaming rival.
- •Showmax prioritized local film productions commissioned across markets including Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa.
- •The streaming service was relaunched in 2024 as a major digital push to compete with global platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and Apple TV+.
- •The closure points to a broader strategic pivot as Canal+ appears to be stepping back from attempting to build a standalone African streaming giant capable of rivaling Silicon Valley, instead favoring a bundling and distribution model built around its existing pay-TV ecosystem.
Evidence of this shift is already visible in a distribution partnership between Canal+ and Netflix in Francophone Africa, allowing Netflix subscriptions to be bundled inside Canal+ packages. The model could expand across the continent, positioning Canal+ as a platform aggregator that distributes global streaming services rather than competing directly with them.
Showmax combined African films and television series, international studio content, children’s programming, reality shows, and live sports including English Premier League matches via SuperSport integration.
Locally produced series and regional content formed a core pillar of the service’s catalog, blending international entertainment with African storytelling. Kenyan titles included Single Kiasi, Crime and Justice, The Real Housewives of Nairobi, and Pepeta.
Showmax's Capital Drag
In its most recent financial results, Showmax’s trading losses widened to 4.9 billion rand in the year ended March 2025, up 88% from 2.6 billion rand the prior year, dragging MultiChoice Group’s trading profit down nearly 50% to 4 billion rand. Prior to the Canal+ takeover, Showmax had accumulated losses of approximately €370 million (US$429 million) over three years.
The 2024 relaunch was backed by a significant capital injection from Canal+. The French media group committed roughly US$177 million to the Showmax venture, financing technology upgrades, product development, and the international rollout of the streaming service.
MultiChoice also partnered with NBCUniversal, a Comcast subsidiary, to adopt the Peacock streaming technology, contributing an additional US$309 million in equity. Despite the spending, Showmax remained small relative to global competitors, with about 3 million subscribers compared with Netflix’s more than 300 million worldwide.
The shutdown is part of an efficiency drive following Canal+’s US$3 billion acquisition of MultiChoice, which valued the South African pay-TV operator at roughly US$2.7 billion. Canal+ steadily increased its stake before acquiring full control last September, bringing the combined group’s reach to more than 40 million subscribers across 70 countries.
