DStv Revenue Drops 3% in South Africa as New Owner Canal+ Struggles to Turn Business Around

Pan-African pay-television network operator MultiChoice, the owner of DStv, continues to face financial challenges as its subscription revenue fell by three percent in South Africa.

French media conglomerate Canal+ officially released the latest trading financial performance update on October 22, 2026, covering the nine-month trading period up to September 30.

Under this latest financial report, MultiChoice recorded a three percent like-for-like revenue decline in its main home market of South Africa, driven primarily by continuous subscriber losses across both premium and low-cost decoder packages.

Although the total reported group revenue showed a tiny jump of zero point four percent after calculating foreign currency exchanges, and total Canal+ group revenue surged 37.5% due to acquiring MultiChoice in September 2025, the underlying television business remains under heavy income pressure.

Over the past 2 years, millions of South African households have canceled their monthly decoder subscriptions because of high food prices, general cost of living increases, and cheap online video streaming competitors like Netflix and YouTube.

In response, Canal+ launched a massive turnaround strategy valued at R55 billion, invested an extra €100 million, hired over 1,000 new sales workers across 16 African countries, shut down the loss-making Showmax video streaming app on April 30, 2026, and restructured DStv decoder packages into clearer options ranging from R99 to R799 per month.

Navigating major changes in satellite television subscriptions is very important for everyday families, local sports lovers, and household budget managers across South Africa and the wider continent.

For many decades, paying for a satellite television decoder was the only reliable way for local families to watch live football matches, local drama series, international movies, and daily news broadcasts.

However, as internet connections become faster and cheaper, many regular citizens are realizing that expensive monthly TV decoders no longer match their daily home budgets.

When pay-TV operators lower decoder prices and offer simplified content packages, everyday viewers can pick only the channels they actually watch without paying extra money for channels they never open.

Explaining how introducing simple decoder options helps viewers get better television value while the company works through its long-term financial recovery plan, executive leadership at Canal+ shared their vision for the African market.

Highlighting the strategic package redesign introduced across local shops to attract budget-conscious households, Chief Executive Officer of Canal+, Maxime Saada, stated that “in September, a new, simplified value proposition was launched in South Africa, providing subscribers with more content, greater choice and better value for the same price”.

Reassuring investors and customers that the media group will expand these affordable subscription choices to other African nations in the coming months, corporate leadership promised continued business improvements.

Emphasizing their long-term growth commitment across the region, Maxime Saada added that “the roll-out of the new offers will continue across English- and Portuguese-speaking Africa over the coming months”.

Canal+ is carefully watching to see if the new pricing structure stabilizes subscriber numbers. As competition from cheap internet video options grows across South Africa, DStv continues its efforts to persuade everyday viewers that its live sports and local entertainment remain worth the monthly fee.