{"id":36513,"date":"2025-09-22T14:18:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T14:18:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/36513\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T14:18:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T14:18:07","slug":"canal-commits-to-more-shaka-ilembe-as-multichoice-deal-closes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/36513\/","title":{"rendered":"Canal+ Commits To More ‘Shaka ILembe’ As MultiChoice Deal Closes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tCanal+<\/a> has committed to \u201cdouble down\u201d on local African content made with big budgets like Shaka iLembe<\/a> as its $2B acquisition of South African giant MultiChoice<\/a> closes, with CEO Maxime Saada today unveiling the new team.<\/p>\n

\n\tSaada addressed press and investors this morning following the news, which he described as the \u201clargest transaction we have undertaken\u201d that will create a \u201cglobal media and entertainment powerhouse,\u201d serving more than 40 million subscribers across nearly 70 countries in Europe, Africa and Asia with 17,000 staff. The acquisition should complete fully on October 7.<\/p>\n

\n\tSaada, who becomes chairman of the new Canal+-MultiChoice board, unveiled the group\u2019s senior leadership team based out of Johannesburg. MultiChoice CEO Calvo Mawela is leaving his role along with CFO Timothy Jacobs, replaced by David Mignot, who becomes CEO of MultiChoice and Canal+ Africa, and Nicolas Dandoy, CFO of MultiChoice and Canal+ Africa.<\/p>\n

\n\tMawela remains with the group as Chair of Canal+ Africa and Jacobs will take up a senior finance position. Mignot was previously CEO Africa, Canal+ International and will unveil his new team in the coming days.<\/p>\n

\n\tCalling Mignot a \u201chighly-experienced media executive,\u201d Saada said the new board \u201ccombines good governance with sustainable growth.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIts composition aims to secure stability, fresh skills and international expertise,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\n\tSaada rejected the notion that promoting French executives to the top roles is \u201carrogant.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere is no arrogance,\u201d he added. \u201cCalvo takes on a new role as Chair of Africa and this is why more than half of the board will stay on. Our African operation has always been run by Africans.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDoubling down\u201d on local content<\/p>\n

\n\tResponding to a question from Deadline, Saada said the new group will plough resources into local content like big co-produced hits Shaka iLembe and Spinners, which were made by both Canal+ and MultiChoice. Chronicling the life of the legendary Zulu king, Shaka iLembe Season 3 is already in production<\/a> and has been a huge hit.<\/p>\n

\n\tSaada added: \u201cPutting more financial resources into this content is the key, because the stories are there in Africa and the talent is there in Africa but what is sometimes lacking is the resources. We\u2019ve seen with Spinners or Shaka iLembe that whenever content is produced with world-class production then it shines and not only in Africa, but this content travels very well outside of Africa.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tMignot, who now oversees 100 TV channels and 10,000 hours of content per year, commited to spending \u201cmore in absolute terms\u201d on local content. He said this will be a \u201cvery significant\u201d figure but couldn\u2019t recall the figure. We have asked Canal+ for the figure. <\/p>\n

\n\tSpeaking alongside Saada and Mignot on the call, Mavela said the new group\u2019s USP will be \u201cstories in Africa that have not been told and we want to travel.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe are conscious of making sure we do well in terms of our investment in local content,\u201d he added. \u201cMaxime has understood that plurality and investment will be supported from day one, so that will continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSaada denied that the deal will create issues in terms of influence over local news, with the CEO confirming that Canal+ will not launch local news networks in the continent but will focus on entertainment and sports. \u201cWe have never done any news in Africa, and we intend to continue focusing on entertainment and sports,\u201d he added. \u201cCarrying news channels is something else, and for that, we have committed to not being involved in those kinds of decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn August, the International Press Institute raised concerns over \u201cpotential editorial interference and the silencing of critical reporting\u201d in Africa following the deal, which it said would create a \u201cde facto monopoly, giving the [Canal+ controlloing shareholder] Bollor\u00e9 Group enormous influence over the flow of information and the nature of content that reaches millions of African households.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA decision will also be made in the coming weeks or months over the future of Showmax, the MultiChoice streamer that sold a 30% stake to Comcast\u2019s NBCUniversal last year. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cA beautiful puzzle coming together\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe mega Canal+-MultiChoice deal took a while to be rubberstamped by the South African competition regulator, which finally gave it approval<\/a> over the summer. <\/p>\n

\n\tCanal+ previously had a 46% minority stake in MultiChoice. The South African Competition Tribunal approved the deal subject to \u201cagreed conditions,\u201d which included maintaining local funding for South African general entertainment and sports content, and providing local creators with opportunity.<\/p>\n

\n\tA lack of \u201cduplication and territorial overlap\u201d makes the deal a \u201cbeautiful puzzle coming together,\u201d Saada said. Canal+ is in 50 countries, around half of which are in Africa but none of which overlap with MultiChoice\u2019s 16 African countries, he added.<\/p>\n

\n\tSaada also confirmed that the new group will list on the South African stock exchange as soon as possible, with more details on this expected after October 7 once Canal+ confirms how much equity of MultiChoice it will own.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019ve always been very clear we want to list in Johannesburg,\u201d he added. \u201cOne question remains [over the equity] and depending on this result we will see where it takes us, but there will be a listing in South Africa and in London on the other side.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Paris-headquartered company\u00a0spun off from its former parent<\/a>, Vivendi, late last year and listed on the London Stock Exchange, becoming the first media company to do so in several years. Shares ticked up slightly upon today\u2019s MultiChoice announcement and are currently trading at 238p ($3.21) in London. Canal+ saw its sales rise 3.6%<\/a> to \u20ac6.45B ($7.6B) in 2024 compared with the previous year, thanks primarily to its film studio productions and higher subscriptions. EBITA was up 5.4% at \u20ac503M.<\/p>\n

\n\tMelanie Goodfellow contributed reporting<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canal+ has committed to \u201cdouble down\u201d on local African content made with big budgets like Shaka iLembe as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[28257,93,61,60,28258,28259,282],"class_list":{"0":"post-36513","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-canal","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-multichoice","13":"tag-shaka-ilembe","14":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}