MultiChoice announced it would shut down Showmax on Thursday, April 30, 2026, marking the end of a service once seen as the South African pay-TV giant’s response to Netflix.
The decision to close Showmax was disclosed in early March 2026, following a thorough review of MultiChoice’s various streaming services. The company, now part of the French media conglomerate Groupe Canal+, cited significant annual losses from Showmax as a critical factor leading to this decision, deeming them unsustainable.
As of March 31, 2026, Showmax ceased accepting new subscribers, with the official shutdown planned for April 30, 2026. MultiChoice has since relocated selected Showmax Originals and additional titles to a dedicated section within the DStv Stream app. A company spokesperson explained, “Showmax content on DStv will be accessible to Compact and Premium satellite and streaming customers through the DStv Stream app,” ensuring that award-winning African narratives remain available even after the service’s closure.
Current Showmax users can maintain their subscription at the same US$5.92 monthly rate for DStv Stream Compact for 1 year. Starting on April 30, qualifying customers will receive a trial of DStv Stream Compact, with the promotional US$5.92-per-month rate commencing on May 1 and valid for a year, as long as their accounts are current.
Launched in August 2015, Showmax was established by MultiChoice to compete with international streaming platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Its focus was on local content tailored for the African audience, allowing it to expand into over 36 countries across sub-Saharan Africa within just one year. MultiChoice had aimed to secure a total subscriber base of 50 million users by 2028.
To facilitate growth, MultiChoice sold a 30% stake in Showmax to Comcast’s NBCUniversal, with the deal finalised on April 4, 2023. Following this, Showmax underwent a major redesign and was relaunched on NBCUniversal’s Peacock platform in February 2024, introducing a new logo and design, along with standalone subscription options for both entertainment and English Premier League soccer. This relaunch required users to transition to a new app, leading to the phasing out of “Showmax Pro,” which combined on-demand content with live sports.
Initially, MultiChoice had expected Showmax to incur trading losses but projected these would begin to taper off in 2025. However, this was not the case, as losses escalated to US$71 million in 2023, US$155 million in 2024, and US$293 million in 2025. During that timeframe, Showmax’s revenue fell from US$61 million to US$45 million. MultiChoice’s leadership attributed this downturn to overly optimistic forecasts and claimed that the decline was somewhat anticipated and temporary.
However, the company’s significant multi-year tech licensing commitments with NBCUniversal for its Peacock platform added financial strain, amounting to US$408 million by the end of the 2024 financial year. Although these obligations had not yet been recorded as liabilities, MultiChoice remained contractually bound to fulfil them. By March 2025, while some obligations were addressed, the financial burden still loomed large relative to Showmax’s revenue.
Ultimately, inadequate leadership and decision-making led Showmax into severe financial commitments that hindered its ability to grow. In the unaudited full-year results statement from Groupe Canal+, it was noted that MultiChoice had failed to meet the objectives it had established for Showmax. Maxime Saada, CEO of Groupe Canal+, labelled the platform an “expensive failure” and remarked on its lack of commercial success in early 2026. He noted, “This was a severely loss-making venture from which we saw no viable recovery.” Saada confirmed that Canal+ swiftly reached an agreement with Comcast to expedite the closure of Showmax following its acquisition of MultiChoice, but declined to provide specific details on the negotiations.
