Canal+ Completes $2B Acquisition of MultiChoice, Consolidating Africa’s Pay-TV Landscape
French media conglomerate Canal+ finalized its $2 billion acquisition of South African pay-TV giant MultiChoice on September 22, 2025, marking the largest media deal in Africa this year and creating a combined entity with over 14.5 million subscribers across 50 countries, as the merger consolidates the continent’s fragmented entertainment market and positions the new group to dominate a $5 billion industry projected to grow 10% annually through 2026. The transaction, valued at 35 billion rand ($2.02 billion), involved Canal+ acquiring the remaining shares at a 67% premium, resulting in a reconstituted board and a shift in MultiChoice’s financial year-end to December, giving Canal+ effective control with a 46% stake and an additional 2.2% tendered, paving the way for enhanced content production and streaming integrations.
Canal+’s move builds on its long-standing presence in Africa, where it operates in 25 countries with 8 million subscribers, now merging with MultiChoice’s DStv and GOtv brands to form a powerhouse that combines French-language programming with English and Portuguese offerings, targeting a 30% market share in key regions like Nigeria and South Africa. Led by Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada, the acquisition enhances local productions such as ‘Shaka iLembe’ and ‘Spinners,’ with commitments to double down on African content, boosting annual revenues to over $3 billion through shared infrastructure and cost reductions of 15%. This consolidation not only streamlines operations but also empowers enterprise leaders in media to leverage the merged platform for advertising and distribution, serving a subscriber base that grew 5% in 2025 alone.
The deal reflects a broader wave of mergers in Africa’s media sector, where M&A activity surged 35% in Q1 2025 to $4.5 billion, as companies seek scale to compete with global streamers like Netflix, which has 5 million African subscribers. Other notable acquisitions include Olam Agri’s $18.6 million purchase of Senegalese poultry feed producer Avisen in March 2025, expanding its agribusiness footprint and adding 100,000 tonnes of feed capacity, and Marula Mining’s $10 million acquisition of a 51% stake in South Africa’s Mansera Kruisrivier Cobalt Holding Company in July 2024, extending into 2025 mining investments amid 10% cobalt price increases. These deals underscore a macrotrend of quality over quantity in African M&A, with strategic exits and partnerships dominating to navigate economic pressures and foster industry growth.
Canal+’s acquisition enhances its competitive positioning, where the group’s combined content library of 50,000 hours outpaces rivals like StarSat, which holds 10% market share, while MultiChoice’s DStv Premium tier, serving 2 million high-end users, provides a moat in premium entertainment. The merger’s operational synergies, including unified technology stacks for streaming, reduce subscriber churn by 20% and open new revenue streams in advertising, projected at $500 million annually. As Saada noted, “This is about creating a global African media champion that celebrates and exports the continent’s stories.”
The impact on Africa’s private enterprise is profound, with the deal creating 1,000 jobs in content production and distribution, while empowering smaller media firms to partner for local programming, adding $1 billion to the creative economy. In Nigeria, where pay-TV subscribers grew 12% to 10 million in 2025, the merged entity will drive 25% more content investment, fostering a vibrant ecosystem for enterprise innovation in entertainment. Canal+’s $2B MultiChoice acquisition is a masterstroke of enterprise, reshaping Africa’s media for scale and innovation.
