Groupe Canal+, which is in the throes of attempting to acquire DStv owner, South Africa’s MultiChoice Group, has similar content offerings to DStv in France, its home market – but with one major difference: the way it bundles sport.

An analysis by TechCentral shows that like DStv, Canal+ in France offers a range of bouquets aimed at specific market segments, including platforms dedicated to movies, series and children’s entertainment.

And, like DStv, the French broadcaster also offers an excellent selection of live sports through a separate, sports-focused bouquet.

Could this point to a future where MultiChoice is less reluctant to unbundle SuperSport from the rest of its content offerings. Until now, the JSE-listed broadcaster hasn’t offered a standalone sports bouquet, preferring to bundle sport with its broader entertainment offerings.

With its subscriber numbers under pressure, though, especially at the high end of the market, could it be a case of when – and not if – SuperSport is given more autonomy from the mothership?

That change may not happen under the current MultiChoice leadership. Speaking to TechCentral in November, MultiChoice Group CEO Calvo Mawela said the strategy of bundling sports and entertainment made sense.

“What we know is that very few people subscribe only to one service. Even on Showmax, despite us having added football, we see the biggest uptake is of both football and general entertainment,” Mawela said of the MultiChoice-owned streaming service.

Future strategy

“With Showmax, we are trialling a product with sport we know is the most popular and most followed – football is like gospel on the continent, and we’ll see how it plays itself out, and that will help us understand viewer habits and what the preferences of customers are. It’s still early days,” Mawela said.

But with Canal+ hoping to conclude its planned acquisition of MultiChoice this year – the deal must still be approved by South African regulators, including the Competition Commission – what does the French broadcaster’s content strategy suggest in terms of possible changes to MultiChoice’s content and pricing strategies should its acquisition pass regulatory muster?

Read: Canal+, MultiChoice approach regulators over deal

Research by TechCentral shows that Canal+ in France offers a range of options to subscribers:

A base package (simply called Canal+) provides a range of entertainment channels and some sports channels and includes movies, series and documentaries. It comes bundled with Apple TV+ and costs from €19.99 (R389)/month for the first six months and then €24.99/month for the remainder of a 24-month contract term. This plan supports up to two concurrent viewers, provided viewers sign up for the term.
Canal+ also offers the base package with Netflix (standard plan with ads) bundled and promises the latest international movies and TV series as well as access to Apple TV+ on a special for a limited period. Bundled sport is focused on the UEFA Champions League but also includes some Premier League games as well as all Formula 1 races and the MotoGP Grand Prix. This tier costs €19.99 (R389)/month for the first six months, after which the price increases to €27.99 (R545)/month on a 24-month contract. It supports two concurrent viewers (24-month contract only).
Then there’s the Canal+ Cine Series, which costs €29.99 (R583)/month (and up, depending on options and contract commitments). This is the special price for a limited period — the normal price is €34.99/month. This package bundles Netflix (standard plan with ads), Cine+OCS, HBO’s Max and Paramount+ as well as additional premium movies and series.
Also for €29.99 (R583)/month for the first six months (then €34.99/month) is a Canal+ & European Cup Pass, which offers access to additional European football games, including the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Conference League, but it strips out some of the streaming options, including Netflix and Paramount+. Both these packages also support two concurrent users (on a 24-month contract; one user on the month-to-month option). In essence, this is the basic Canal+ offer (Canal+ and Apple TV+) plus a pass giving access to 100% of European soccer tournaments.
Canal+ Sport, meanwhile, costs €34.99 (R681)/month (and up, depending on options) for six months (then €45.99/month) and offers a much wider range of sporting content, including all Premier League games and the LaLiga tournament as well as 100% of UEFA, EPL and other games. A sports-only bouquet like this one is completely missing on DStv.
Lastly, the French broadcaster’s top-end bundle includes everything all the other plans have to offer. Costing €59.99 (R1 167)/month for the first six months and €75.99 (R1 478)/month for the rest of a 24-month contract term, Canal+ The Total, as the bundle is known, costs significantly more than MultiChoice’s top-end bouquet, DStv Premium. However, it offers access to all Canal+ live sport plus all movies, series and documentaries, and comes bundled with HBO’s Max (standard plan), Netflix (standard plan) and Paramount+ (standard plan) — users can pay more to upgrade these plans). Canal+ The Total also provides a discounted Apple Music subscription. It allows four concurrent users to access the platform, whereas the other bouquets allow for a maximum of two.

On all Canal+ plans, users who sign up for a 24-month contract get 4K UHD resolution with support for HDR (high dynamic range) as well as Dolby Atmos surround sound. MultiChoice does not currently offer any channels in 4K or HDR, though the broadcaster has tested 4K in the past.

Canal+ also offers some cheaper options. One is aimed at young people (aged 26 and below) and includes streaming packages like Netflix with ads for €19.99/month. There’s also a TV+ option for €2 (R39)/month that offers a basic selection of content.

For comparison, DStv offers the following bouquets (pricing is per month and each bouquet offers only one stream and one mobile stream):

DStv Premium (satellite): R929/month
DStv Stream Premium: From R699/month
DStv Compact Plus (satellite): R619/month
DStv Stream Compact Plus: From R549/month
DStv Compact (satellite): R469/month
DStv Stream Compact: From R299/month
DStv Family (satellite): R329/month
DStv Stream Family: From R299/month
DStv Access (satellite): R139/month
DStv Stream Access: From R99/month
DStv EasyView (satellite): R29/month

DStv also offers discounted access to its streaming platform Showmax for some of its plans. Showmax is free on Premium. Users can also bundle the likes of Netflix and Disney+ at an additional cost. – © 2025 NewsCentral Media