{"id":515920,"date":"2026-03-05T12:10:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T12:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/515920\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T12:10:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T12:10:07","slug":"canal-shutters-loss-making-south-african-streamer-showmax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/515920\/","title":{"rendered":"Canal+ Shutters Loss-Making South African Streamer Showmax"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tCanal+<\/a> has made a big early decision as the new owner of MultiChoice by axing loss-making streamer Showmax<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe decision follows a \u201ccomprehensive\u201d review into Showmax, which has carved out a reputation for high-end original series such as Spinners, Catch Me a Killer and Khaki Fever, which found \u201csubstantial annual losses at the subscription streamer.<\/p>\n

\n\tCanal+ took over<\/a> Showmax parent MultiChoice in a $2B deal last September, vowing to \u201cdouble down\u201d on big local hits such as Spinners and Shaka iLembe at the same time. <\/p>\n

\n\tCanal+ had noted upon closure of the deal that it would make a decision over the future of Showmax in coming weeks or months.<\/p>\n

\n\tPer Canal+ this morning, the decision to shutter Showmax was made by the streamer\u2019s board and reflects a focus on \u201cfinancial discipline and investment optimisation, in an increasingly competitive and capital-intensive global streaming environment.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe substantial annual losses experienced by the Showmax business have proved\u00a0unsustainable,\u201d added the France-based multinational in a statement. \u201cThe decision to phase out Showmax reflects our focus on building a sustainable, competitive business for the long term in an increasingly demanding global streaming environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCanal+ added: \u201cThe decision to discontinue Showmax services will not involve any retrenchments. The Group will be engaging and supporting employees through various transition options.\u201d This appears to suggest there will be no redundancies and we have reached out to Canal+ for clarity.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe plan is now to focus on MultiChoice\u2019s streaming services. \u201cCanal+ will continue to invest in premium content for MultiChoice subscribers, technological innovation and strategic partnerships to consolidate its leadership in the African entertainment market,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n

\n\tNo detail on when the service will shutter, or what an \u201cexpanded content offering and platform upgrades\u201d entail, with more details to be shared later down the line. <\/p>\n

\n\tShowmax had operated in its current form since February 2024, when it relaunched with the technological backing of Comcast, which had taken a 30% stake in the business.<\/p>\n

\n\tOur sister publication Variety was first with news of the closure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canal+ has made a big early decision as the new owner of MultiChoice by axing loss-making streamer Showmax.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[49,48,15297,75,204287,5685,348],"class_list":["post-515920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canal","tag-entertainment","tag-showmax","tag-south-africa","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=515920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}