Canal+, the French media firm, has announced a €100 million plan to revive growth at African pay TV operator MultiChoice Group, the company behind DStv and GOtv.

Canal+, which completed the acquisition of Multichoice late last year, announced the lifeline in its 2025 financial results released yesterday.

According to the results, Mulichoice recorded a significant decline in subscribers and revenue in 2025, driven by challenges in the operating environments, including Nigeria.

Canal+ in the financial results revealed that MultiChoice ended 2025 with 14.4 million subscribers, down from 14.9 million recorded a year earlier. It lost about 500, 000 subscribers.

Revenue declined six per cent to €2.4 billion, while adjusted earnings before interest and tax fell 14 per cent to €159 million.

The firm stated: “After experiencing impressive growth from 2010 to 2023, MultiChoice has faced challenges since the combined effects of macro -economic factors (e.g., currency devaluation in Nigeria, power cuts), a difficult transition to OTT with the expensive failure of Showmax, and strong inflation across most cost items, especially content, negatively impacted its profitability.”

It noted that while MultiChoice had addressed the situation through short -term measures, in particular reduction in subscriber acquisition subsidies and price increases, these had a negative impact on the subscriber base, worsening the original profitability issues.

“MultiChoice is facing a €140 million negative impact in 2026 from inertia of subscriber base driving decrease in revenues, and from cost inflation.

“To restart subscriber growth, CANAL+ will launch a growth boost plan by investing around €100 million,” the company said.

As part of the push to attract new users, Canal+ plans to hire more than 1,000 sales staff across African markets, shifting MultiChoice towards a more sales-driven model designed to boost subscriber numbers.

The development follows Canal+’s full acquisition of MultiChoice, a deal that significantly expanded the French broadcaster’s footprint in global pay-television markets.

The transaction, finalised in September last year, was valued at about $3 billion and brought together two major players in the television and streaming industry.

With the takeover completed, the combined group now serves more than 40 million subscribers across nearly 70 countries spanning Africa, Europe, and Asia, while employing roughly 17,000 people.

Canal+ has also indicated that it will outline a detailed integration strategy, including operational synergies and growth plans, during a strategic update scheduled for the first quarter of 2026.

Alongside the investment programme, Canal+ is also pursuing significant cost reductions. The company said it will introduce a voluntary severance plan for some support staff within MultiChoice and begin a restructuring of Irdeto, the group’s technology and cybersecurity subsidiary.

These measures are expected to help deliver faster cost savings. Canal+ said it now expects to generate more than €250 million in synergies by 2026, higher than its earlier estimate of €150 million. The savings will come from measures including the Showmax shutdown, operational restructuring at MultiChoice and rationalising company-owned properties.