Canal+ has acquired exclusive rights to all UEFA men's club competitions in Sub-Saharan Africa for four seasons, starting from mid-2027 until 2031. These rights cover the Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League in over 40 countries.
Canal+ has acquired exclusive rights to all UEFA men's club competitions in Sub-Saharan Africa for four seasons, starting from mid-2027 until 2031. These rights cover the Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League in over 40 countries.
SuperSport, which has long been the broadcaster of these competitions in the region, retains its rights. However, in French-speaking Africa, Canal+ Sport is restoring full coverage of the Champions League and adding the Europa League and Conference League for the first time on an exclusive French-language basis.
The counterparty is UC3, a joint venture between UEFA and European football clubs (formerly the European Club Association). In March 2025, UC3 entrusted the American agency Relevent with a global mandate for marketing and selling commercial rights to the club competitions for six seasons, from 2027/2028 to 2032/2033. Canal+ signed a four-season package within this six-year cycle. The deal's value was not disclosed.
This move is seen as a clear statement about where Canal+ intends to compete after acquiring MultiChoice Group, as well as an acknowledgment of areas where it cannot compete. Since scripted entertainment content has become the cheapest on the internet, streaming services like Netflix, Disney, Amazon, and Apple sell content libraries in South Africa for much less than the most expensive DStv package. Consequently, a household interested in a prestigious drama series sees no reason to pay a premium for cable television for that content. Furthermore, global streamers are not yet ready to invest heavily in Africa specifically in this category.
Canal+ followed this logic since gaining control in September 2025:
Simultaneously, Canal+ was cutting back on entertainment spending: the Showmax service was discontinued in March and closed at the end of April, and the usual price increase in April was not applied.
Last week's half-year financial results for Canal+ help explain this strategy. Canal+ reported a 40% revenue growth in the first half and a 68% increase in adjusted profit before interest and taxes. Meanwhile, MultiChoice's adjusted EBITDA grew by 160%, reaching 143 million euros, and subscriber acquisition in MultiChoice countries increased by 40%. The total African subscriber base grew by 7%, and South Africa recorded its best month for new subscribers in a decade in June. Group CEO Maxim Saada acknowledged that this growth is largely due to the recently concluded FIFA World Cup.
Unlike the World Cup, the Champions League football takes place weekly over four seasons, which is likely an attempt to turn a temporary surge of interest into a permanent level, thereby stopping subscriber decline. Nevertheless, these are also ongoing costs: the inflation of broadcasting rights is relentless. Canal+ has secured four seasons of confidence in its most important asset for customer retention, as well as four seasons of guaranteed expenses. The bet is that Africans, including those in South Africa, will continue to pay for football even after they stop paying for movies.
The latest reports published by Canal+ do not contain information on the number of DStv subscribers. The documents covering the six-month period up to June 30, 2026, lack any figures regarding the number of MultiChoice subscribers.
The reports do not present either the total number of DStv subscribers, the distribution across Premium, Compact, and Family segments, or the average revenue per user for the South African business, nor are there data on active users over 90 days. The closest indicator is the aggregate figure of 22.6 million people for the entire Africa and Asia segment, which showed a growth of 7.2% compared to the previous year.
This segment includes Canal+'s pay TV operations in Francophone Africa, MultiChoice, the Canal+ Telecom Africa fiber optic network business, and the pay TV joint venture in Myanmar. Together, the Canal+ and MultiChoice brands provide pay TV services in more than 48 African countries.
According to Canal+'s own comments, a significant part of the growth comes from markets outside of MultiChoice. In Africa and Asia, 1.5 million new subscribers were acquired over the year. Only Francophone Africa contributed 'more than one million additional subscribers,' thanks to the Africa Cup of Nations and retail network expansion. The base in Myanmar grew 'very rapidly,' and revenue increased by more than 3.5 times. Canal+ Telecom Africa, which was renamed from Group Vivendi Africa during the reporting period, is expanding its fiber optic networks in 15 cities across 10 countries.
Considering these factors, MultiChoice's share in the overall growth is very small. The results confirm this: in one sentence on page 11, it is stated that 'the subscriber portfolio in MultiChoice countries was generally stable compared to the first half of 2025,' with historical decline being offset by the Africa Cup of Nations, the FIFA World Cup, and early effects of the growth stimulus plan.
MultiChoice was delisted from the JSE on December 10, 2025, and Canal+ conducted a secondary reverse placement on June 3 of this year, while maintaining its main listing in London.
Canal+ provided detailed information on MultiChoice's finances in the latest results: revenue amounted to 1.18 billion euros, which is 2.9% less, or 3.4% in constant volume and currency; adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) excluding exceptional items reached 143 million euros; the adjusted EBIT margin was 12.1%, higher than 8.7%; cash flow from operating activities excluding exceptional items reached 225 million euros; free cash flow based on this was 161 million euros; and subscription revenue decreased by 1%.
However, the group does not disclose how many people pay for these subscriptions. As a company listed on the JSE, MultiChoice provided detailed subscriber count data twice a year: active subscribers over 90 days broken down by tiers, as well as average revenue per user and churn commentary for South Africa and the rest of Africa. This data allowed for precise tracking of base erosion, which formed the basis for years of publications stating that Premium subscribers leave the fastest.
This lack of disclosure makes it impossible to verify claims in the transformation plan. Canal+ claims that subscriber acquisition in MultiChoice countries grew by 40%, and June was the best month for acquiring new subscribers in South Africa in a decade. Nevertheless, none of these figures provide investors with information on the net position, as gross increase does not account for subscriber churn, and the company's acknowledgment that the portfolio is generally stable suggests that customers are leaving at almost the same rate they are arriving.
Canal+ last published MultiChoice subscriber figures in March, stating that the base had shrunk to 14.4 million by the end of 2025 compared to 14.9 million the previous year. In six months, the group will only state that the situation has stopped deteriorating significantly.
The group's total revenue grew by 40% to 4.29 billion euros compared to 3.07 billion euros the previous year, largely because MultiChoice consolidated for the full six months for the first time. When compared to the combined base of the previous year, including MultiChoice, revenue grew by 0.6%, or 0.1% in constant volume and currency.
Adjusted earnings before exceptional items grew by 68% to 433 million euros with a margin of 10.1%, or 19.1% relative to the combined base. Excluding MultiChoice, Canal+'s revenue grew by 1.8% to 3.13 billion euros, and adjusted earnings before exceptional items by 13% to 290 million euros.
Cash generation looks strong on key metrics but significantly weaker on secondary ones. Cash flow from operating activities excluding exceptional items was 559 million euros, but compared to the combined figure of the previous year of 647 million euros, this is a decrease of 13.6%; free cash flow excluding exceptional items was 414 million euros, which is 14.7% less on the same basis. After exceptional items, operating cash flow dropped to 223 million euros from 642 million euros in the combined figure, and free cash flow to 79 million euros from 481 million euros, after an exceptional outflow of 336 million euros, including 275 million euros for settling a VAT dispute in France.
Another 89 million euros is due by the end of the year. Net profit attributable to shareholders decreased to 29 million euros from 70 million euros, resulting in a profit of 0.03 euros per share versus 0.07 euros. The main earnings per share metric, disclosed for the first time in accordance with South African requirements, was 0.15 euros.
Net debt amounted to 2.09 billion euros. Annual forecasts were confirmed: stable revenue, adjusted earnings before exceptional items of 735 million euros, operating cash flow exceeding 600 million euros, and free cash flow exceeding 250 million euros, excluding the settlement of the French VAT dispute and restructuring costs.
Regarding MultiChoice, synergies brought in 122 million euros to the report, of which 70 million euros increased adjusted earnings before interest and taxes, and 52 million euros relate to the closure of Showmax and are reflected in discontinued operations. The group's structural costs rose to 75 million euros from 6 million euros, mainly due to the MultiChoice transformation plan and the realization of synergy costs, under which a voluntary redundancy program was in effect. MultiChoice contributed 233 million euros to the group's personnel expenses, of which 35 million euros were for restructuring.
Canal+ still expects MultiChoice to generate 170 million euros in adjusted earnings before interest and taxes for the full year, with the second half of the year bearing the brunt of the growth stimulus plan costs and content inflation. South Africa is now the group's second-largest market by revenue, accounting for 764 million euros or 17.8% of the total.
