MultiChoice will restructure the group to comply with the Electronic Communications Act, enabling Canal+ to acquire it.
DStv’s parent company, Multichoice Group, will restructure the company to comply with the Electronic Communications Act (ECA), enabling the French media giant Canal+ to acquire it.
MultiChoice’s primary business is providing video entertainment through multiple platforms, including DStv, GOtv, and ShowMax.
Canal+ already owns 45% of MultiChoice’s shares, and with this deal, it intends to buy the remaining shares for R125 per share, valuing the group at more than R50 billion.
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Why restructure DStv?
The ECA limits foreign ownership and control in commercial broadcasting licensees to 20%, preventing foreign entities from exercising control. Foreigners are restricted from holding more than 20% of voting shares, financial interests, or director positions in these licensees.
MultiChoice announced to shareholders on Monday that the first steps of restructuring the company will begin.
“Shareholders are hereby advised that the agreements necessary to implement the reorganisation have now become unconditional and that the implementation of the various steps of the reorganisation will now commence.
“As previously advised, the reorganisation is to be undertaken to enable the implementation of Canal+’s mandatory offer for MultiChoice, and forms part of the conditions imposed by the South African Competition Tribunal when approving the mandatory offer.”
How will DStv do it?
MultiChoice split off the part of their business that runs TV broadcasting in South Africa and sells subscriptions into a separate company called LicenceCo, so that it complies with the law after their merger.
The rest of the business will stay under Multichoice, and this move protects their licences and keeps them compliant.
The deal has already been approved by various regulatory authorities, including the Prudential Authority, and obtained third-party consents, such as the approval of MultiChoice’s funders, to implement the reorganisation.
“An updated timetable for the mandatory offer will be released once the implementation of the reorganisation has been concluded.”
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Decline in subscribers
DStv has, for some time now, continued to lose subscribers. The financial results for the year ended March 2025 showed that DStv lost subscribers, but not as many as in the previous financial year.
The streaming network stated that the past two financial years have been a period of significant financial disruption for economies, corporations and consumers across sub-Saharan Africa, due to challenging macroeconomic factors.
The macroeconomic factors were combined with the impact of structural industry changes in the video entertainment sector, including the rise of piracy, the emergence of streaming services, and the growth of social media.
“Over this period, the group lost 2.8 million active linear subscribers and had to absorb a R10.2bn negative impact on its topline due to local currency depreciation against the US dollar.”
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