Canal+, the French pay-TV group, has taken effective control of South Africa’s MultiChoice Group after its mandatory takeover offer became unconditional, marking a major shift in the African pay-TV market. The companies said all suspensive conditions tied to the offer were fulfilled or waived, triggering the settlement process and giving Canal+ effective control of the broadcaster.
The transaction values MultiChoice at roughly 35 billion rand (about $2.0–$3.0 billion in press reporting) and follows months of regulatory review and negotiations. As of mid-September, Canal+ held about 46% of MultiChoice’s shares and secured additional acceptances that increased its holding, enough to assert effective control under the terms of the offer.
MultiChoice — the parent company of satellite platform DStv and terrestrial platform GOtv — has for decades been a dominant broadcaster across English-speaking Africa. Canal+ said the completion of the offer will begin an integration process intended to combine Canal+’s French-language strengths with MultiChoice’s established reach in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and other markets, and to expand content offerings across the combined footprint.
Regulators imposed conditions earlier in the approval process to protect competition and to promote local participation. Those conditions included measures to support Historically Disadvantaged Persons and smaller local suppliers in South Africa’s audio-visual sector, and structural steps related to South African broadcasting licence rules — steps that helped shape how the deal will be implemented going forward.
Canal+ has signalled plans to invest in local production and to maintain key services while it integrates operations. MultiChoice’s board and senior management began reshuffling as the offer progressed, and Canal+ has discussed a strategy to leverage both companies’ programming and technology to reach more subscribers across Africa. Industry analysts say the deal could accelerate consolidation in the region’s media market and bring more international content to pay-TV customers — but it also raises questions about pricing, local content control and jobs as the integration proceeds.
For subscribers of DStv and GOtv, immediate service changes are not expected to be announced today; Canal+ and MultiChoice will move into the settlement and integration phase and provide further details on any product, pricing or management changes in the coming week
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