MultiChoice will shut 4 DStv channels subsequent month, three of them carrying native content material, whereas including 4 SuperSport channels.
The transfer comes regardless of native content material commitments Canal+ made to get its takeover of the pay-TV operator permitted.
M-Web Motion pictures 1, KykNet Lekker, Mzansi Bioskop and Mzansi Music cease broadcasting on 16 September, MultiChoice mentioned in a press release on Friday.
From 19 August, SuperSport’s line-up is renamed and expanded: SuperSport Soccer Plus turns into the house for premium soccer together with chosen Uefa Champions League matches, SuperSport Africa carries South African and African sport, SuperSport KickOff takes overflow soccer fixtures, and a brand new SuperSport Additional 2 provides capability for when main occasions run concurrently.
“As viewing habits proceed to vary, MultiChoice is refining the DStv channel line-up to match,” the corporate mentioned. “Relatively than spreading comparable content material throughout many channels, we’re concentrating on fewer, stronger channels, giving subscribers a cleaner, easier-to-navigate line-up and a greater viewing expertise general.”
Native content material
Three of the 4 closures are native. Mzansi Bioskop screened South African movies and served as a path to air for rising native filmmakers. Mzansi Music carried native music programming. KykNet Lekker was an Afrikaans channel aimed toward DStv Entry subscribers, that means that minimize hits the most affordable package deal on the platform.
Native content material is just not a impartial topic for Canal+. Circumstances connected to its 2025 acquisition of MultiChoice included undertakings on native content material manufacturing and assist for small black-owned suppliers, and the Competitors Fee has mentioned it’s monitoring compliance.
Learn: Why Canal+ is betting DStv’s future on reside sport
Canal+ Africa CEO David Mignot has mentioned it will be “a strategically large mistake” for the group to chop native content material funding, pointing to a dedication of about €100-million to speed up native manufacturing.
The cuts lengthen a sample. Showmax was shut down on 30 April and its content material folded into DStv Stream, weeks after Mignot informed TechCentral the platform “can’t proceed” in its present kind. The group confirmed the closure in March, and Canal+ later purchased out Showmax’s minority shareholder earlier than shutting it.
BET Africa and MTV Base went in the beginning of January, together with CBS Actuality and CBS Justice. Sponsorships of arts and movie festivals have been dropped. Canal+ is focusing on greater than €400-million in annual price financial savings by 2030.
Sport is a distinct story. SuperSport is more and more the one a part of MultiChoice with real pricing energy: for so long as it holds the rights South African viewers can pay handsomely for, the linear bundle has a ground. 4 new sport channels in opposition to 4 fewer leisure channels is what that logic appears like on a programming schedule.
MultiChoice held DStv costs flat in April, breaking a future of annual will increase, in what Mignot described as an effort to stabilise the enterprise and win subscribers again. – © 2026 NewsCentral Media
