MCG RETIRES SHOWMAX AFTER COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW

Canal+ S.A

05 March 2026

 

CANAL+ SA

MCG RETIRES SHOWMAX AFTER COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW

Issy-les-Moulineaux, 5 March 2026

CANAL+ SA (LSE: CAN, the "Company"), the global media and entertainment company, announces that MultiChoice, a subsidiary of CANAL+ group, has today issued a press release on the discontinuation of the Showmax service.  

The press release provided as follows:

MULTICHOICE RETIRES SHOWMAX AFTER COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW

MultiChoice, part of CANAL+ SA (LSE: CAN, the "Company" or the "Group"), the global media and entertainment company, today announces the forthcoming discontinuation of the Showmax service, following a comprehensive review of its streaming activities.

This decision was made by the Showmax Board of Directors and reflects the continued focus of MultiChoice, a CANAL+ Company, on financial discipline and investment optimisation, in an increasingly competitive and capital-intensive global streaming environment. The substantial annual losses experienced by the Showmax business have proved unsustainable. The decision to phase out Showmax reflects our focus on building a sustainable, competitive business for the long term in an increasingly demanding global streaming environment.

The decision to discontinue Showmax services will not involve any retrenchments. The Group will be engaging and supporting employees through various transition options.

This evolution is also consistent with the ambition of MultiChoice, a CANAL+ Company, to deploy its in-house large-scale streaming platform capable of meeting the expectations of African and international consumers.

CANAL+ will continue to invest in premium content for MultiChoice subscribers, technological innovation and strategic partnerships to consolidate its leadership in the African entertainment market.

Further details regarding our expanded content offering and platform upgrades will be shared in due course. We want to reassure our Showmax subscribers that they are our priority as we evolve our services to deliver a superior streaming experience.

ABOUT MULTICHOICE

MultiChoice Group (MCG), a subsidiary of CANAL+ group, is a leading provider of entertainment and related consumer services. The company has an expanding ecosystem, underpinned by scalable technologies, and a track record now spanning almost 40 years.  MCG provides video entertainment products and services through its linear and streaming platforms to millions of households across 50 countries on the African continent and continues to grow by producing and acquiring the best local, sport and international content and offering tiered subscription packages and aggregated streaming services to its customer base. MCG's superior technology capabilities enable it to continue innovating around distribution, digital and payment solutions, and content security to offer the best customer experience across the continent. Reaching up to 100 million individuals daily, the MultiChoice Group is using its scale and distribution to expand its platform to include sports betting and interactive entertainment, fin-tech services, household services (focused on internet connectivity and emergency response services) and ed-tech. Irdeto, MCG's technology business, provides platform cybersecurity services which protect over 6 billion devices and applications globally for some of the world's best media and technology brands, as well as clients in the connected industries sector.

CONTACTS

CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS

Elvire Charbonnel [e-mail]

Litlhare Moteetee (Lee) [e-mail]

FINANCIAL COMMUNICATIONS

Andrew Swailes [e-mail]

INVESTORS & ANALYSTS

[e-mail]

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ABOUT CANAL+

Founded as a French subscription-TV channel 40 years ago, CANAL+ is now a global media and entertainment company. On 22 September 2025, CANAL+ confirmed it is in effective control of MultiChoice Group and beginning the integration process. MultiChoice is Africa's leading entertainment platform, offering a wide range of products and services, including DStv, GOtv, Showmax, M-Net, SuperSport, Irdeto, and KingMakers. Together, the new combined group has 40 million subscribers worldwide, operates in over 70 countries and has approximately 15,000 employees.

CANAL+ operates across the entire audio-visual value chain, including production, broadcast, distribution and aggregation. It is home to STUDIOCANAL, a leading film and television studio with worldwide production and distribution capabilities; Dailymotion, major international video platform powered by cutting-edge proprietary technology for video delivery, advertising, and monetization; CANAL+ Distribution, a production and distribution company specialising in creating and distributing diverse content and channels; and telecommunication services, through GVA in Africa and CANAL+ Telecom in the French overseas jurisdictions and territories. 

CANAL+ also has significant equity stakes in Viaplay (the Pay-TV leader in Scandinavia), Viu (a leading OTT platform in Southern Asia), and UGC, a leading French cinema group. 

 canalplusgroup.com/en

 

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