MultiChoice, the pan-African pay-TV operator, has announced that Showmax, its streaming service, will relaunch on its Peacock-based platform on 12 February 2024.
The company first revealed its plan to overhaul Showmax in March 2023, announcing a deal to sell 30% of the streaming service to Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Sky. The success of Showmax’s relaunch is critical for MultiChoice, which expects the platform to generate US$1 billion in net revenue in the next five years.
As part of the modernisation, Showmax 2.0 will offer up to full HD video and Dolby 5.1 surround sound. It will still run across smartphones, media boxes, game consoles, and smart TV platforms.
The general entertainment package will cost US$4.74 per month, which is lower than the current price of US$5.27 per month. Showmax Premier League mobile plan will be US$3.67 per month, while Showmax Mobile will be US$2.08 per month.
Showmax will also offer a bundled mobile-only general entertainment Premier League service for US$5.27 per month. The company has partnered with MTN and Capitec to provide mobile plans at an even better price point. A registration campaign for the new Showmax will begin on 23 January.
However, some older platforms will not be supported. Existing features will still be available on the new platform, including downloading content for watching later, kids’ profiles, and controlling the quality of the video to reduce data consumption. Showmax is considering 4K support, but it is not a priority for the relaunch because they found the data consumption is excessive for most of the African market — clocking in at around 17GB per hour.
