MultiChoice Group

MultiChoice Group is a South African video-entertainment and pay-TV company and the largest subscription-television operator in Africa. It grew out of the pay-TV business of M-Net, the subscription channel launched by the South African media group Naspers in the mid-1980s, and was formally organised as MultiChoice in the mid-1990s. The company distributes satellite and digital-terrestrial television to millions of households across Sub-Saharan Africa through its flagship DStv brand (premium and mid-tier satellite bouquets) and GOtv (lower-cost digital-terrestrial television), alongside a growing set of internet-connected and streaming services. MultiChoice's core business is the packaging and retailing of television content: it aggregates sports, movies, general entertainment, news and local-language programming, operates customer-premises equipment and decoder hardware, and runs subscriber management, billing and installation services across dozens of African markets. Sport — especially football and rugby — is a central pillar of its premium proposition, and the group has invested heavily in local original productions, which it positions as a differentiator against global streaming entrants. Its streaming service Showmax, relaunched in partnership with Comcast's NBCUniversal, competes directly with Netflix and Amazon Prime Video in African markets. Ownership has been a defining theme. MultiChoice was long a subsidiary of Naspers, the Cape Town-based internet and media investor, and was separately listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 2019 when Naspers spun off its video-entertainment assets. Naspers, through its internet arm Prosus, remains the controlling shareholder. In 2024 the French media group Canal+ began building a stake in MultiChoice and made a buyout approach, setting up one of the most closely watched African media M&A situations of the decade. The group is headquartered in Randburg, north of Johannesburg, and reports in South African rand. Its business is exposed to currency volatility, consumer pressure in its largest markets, regulatory requirements around local content and ownership, and intensifying competition from global streaming platforms. MultiChoice has responded with cost discipline, decoder and streaming product refreshes, and a strategy of combining traditional linear pay-TV with over-the-top streaming to serve both mass-market and premium African audiences.

MultiChoice's origins lie in M-Net, the subscription television channel that the South African media group Naspers launched in the mid-1980s as a pay-movie and entertainment service for South African viewers. As demand for subscription television grew beyond a single channel, Naspers created MultiChoice in the mid-1990s to handle subscriber management, decoder distribution and the packaging of multiple channels into bouquets. The launch of digital satellite television under the DStv brand in the mid-1990s transformed the business, allowing it to offer dozens of channels and to expand beyond South Africa's borders into the rest of the continent. Through the 2000s MultiChoice expanded aggressively across Sub-Saharan Africa, rolling out DStv in dozens of countries and adding local-language content, local sports rights and regional customer-service operations. It also built a substantial decoder-manufacturing and installation ecosystem. A landmark move was the introduction of GOtv, a lower-cost digital-terrestrial television service aimed at mass-market households in markets where satellite dishes were unaffordable, which became a major growth engine in countries such as Nigeria, Kenya and Zambia. MultiChoice also invested in content production, launching M-Net original productions and later local telenovela and drama formats that proved popular with African audiences. It became one of the largest buyers of football rights on the continent, including English Premier League and African football packages, and sports became the anchor of its premium DStv proposition. In the 2010s the group faced new competition from over-the-top streaming services. It responded by launching Showmax, an internet-delivered streaming service, and by investing in connected decoders and catch-up services. In 2019 Naspers spun off MultiChoice as a separately listed company on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, with Naspers retaining a majority stake through its internet arm Prosus. The listing gave MultiChoice its own capital and a sharper strategic focus on African video entertainment. In the 2020s the group restructured Showmax in partnership with Comcast's NBCUniversal, relaunching the platform with a stronger technology stack and a focus on local originals and mobile-first viewing. In 2024 the French pay-TV and media group Canal+ began accumulating a stake in MultiChoice and made a buyout approach, triggering a closely watched takeover process under South African regulatory rules. MultiChoice has continued to emphasise cost discipline, local content and the combination of linear pay-TV with streaming as its core strategy.

• 2024

  Canal+ builds a stake in MultiChoice and makes a buyout approach

• 2023

  Showmax relaunched in partnership with Comcast's NBCUniversal

• 2019

  MultiChoice separately listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange after Naspers spin-off

• 2015

  Showmax streaming service launched

• 2010

  GOtv low-cost digital-terrestrial service introduced for mass-market households

• 2000

  DStv expansion across Sub-Saharan Africa accelerates

• 1995

  MultiChoice is organised as Naspers' pay-TV business and DStv digital satellite television is launched

• 1986

  Naspers launches M-Net, the subscription channel that becomes the foundation of MultiChoice

Africa's leading pay-TV and video-entertainment platform, combining mass-market digital-terrestrial television, premium satellite bouquets and streaming.

• DStv

  Premium and mid-tier satellite pay-TV bouquets with sports, movies, news and entertainment channels.

• GOtv

  Low-cost digital-terrestrial television service for mass-market African households.

• Showmax

  Streaming service focused on local originals and mobile-first viewing, relaunched with NBCUniversal.

• Decoder and PVR hardware

  Set-top boxes, personal video recorders and connected decoders distributed across African markets.

• 2021

  Nigeria's revenue service instructs banks to freeze MultiChoice accounts

  In July 2021, Nigeria's Federal Inland Revenue Service instructed banks in the country to freeze accounts belonging to MultiChoice Group and its subsidiaries. The instruction was made amid alleged tax evasion and tax-compliance issues. The allegations were reported as claims and not as a determination of wrongdoing. The event concerned the accounts of MultiChoice Group and its subsidiaries, and the reported basis was alleged tax evasion and tax-compliance issues.

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1. 1MultiChoice Group official websitemultichoice.com
2. 2Nigeria's revenue service instructs banks to freeze MultiChoice accountsitnewsafrica.com
3. 3GOtv Launches M-Net Movies Pop-up Channel To Celebrate African Filmbusinessghana.com
4. 4Media moves: MultiChoice Group and FAME Week Africa launch drama commissioning opportunity, Retroviral appoints Koketso Masisi athemediaonline.co.za
5. 5MultiChoice collaborates with Televisa Networks in launching new Pop-Up channel on DStv | Nyasa Timesnyasatimes.com
6. 6MultiChoice partners with YES to bring hope to unemployed youthsowetan.co.za
7. 7Safetech AURA Raises $4.7-Million in Huge Series A Funding Round - IT News Africa - African Business Technology Newsitnewsafrica.com
8. 8TRACE partners with Multichoice for new gospel channelcapitalfm.africa