MultiChoice is a South African company that operates DStv, a major satellite television service in Sub-Saharan Africa, and GOtv, a minor service operating in over nine countries of this area and Showmax service. MultiChoice was formed out of the subscriber-management branch of the M-Net terrestrial pay television company, and broadcasts the full range of M-Net channels on the DStv service. MultiChoice is owned by the media conglomerate of the same name. One of the subsidiaries of MultiChoice is DStv Now, renamed as DStv App, a service that delivers television transmission to mobile devices such as laptops, smart phones and notebooks.
Formerly, MultiChoice had operations in the Scandinavian, Benelux, Italy, Eastern Europe, Greek & Cypriot regions under the Filmnet TV service, Egypt under CNE (Cable Network of Egypt), Middle East under Gulf TV and Arab Radio and Television Network & Thailand under UBC (United Broadcasting Corporation).
In 2020, MultiChoice had a total subscriber base of 20.1 million viewers throughout Africa, and Naspers asserted that MultiChoice was one of the fastest growing pay-TV operators globally.
History
Early years (1983–1991) In 1983, Koos Bekker wrote a paper at Columbia University describing the idea that led to M-Net, and along with two others pitched the idea to Naspers, which acquired a 26% share, leading to Naspers executive Ton Vosloo serving as chair of the board. M-Net lost money in its first few years.
Expansion (1992–2017) In 1993, M-Net was divided into two divisions, one focused on transmission of the entertainment channels and the other on cellphone operations, signal distribution and subscriber management. This second division became MultiChoice. The company had been granted a licence to broadcast into Namibia in 1991 and, as a result, in 1996 MultiChoice Africa was established.
In 1992, analogue services were launched in 20 African countries and lasted until 1996 when digital services replaced them. This division, called DStv (Digital Satellite Television), had first been launched in South Africa on October 6, 1995, making it the first direct-to-home digital pay-TV service outside the US.
In 2002, a "Dual-view" decoder was launched by DStv which allowed the simultaneous viewing of two different channels from a single satellite feed. In 2006, a service to mobile devices was trialed and officially launched in 2011 as DStv Mobile (now called DStv App, renamed from DStv Now).
In October 2011, MultiChoice Nigeria launched GOtv, an affordable terrestrial platform & a compatriot to DStv, which broadcasts all channels from DStv Access and some from DStv Compact packages in 11 Sub-Saharan African countries.
MultiChoice broadcasts in 50 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Cape Verde and Madagascar. Local language programme content is available in French and Portuguese in certain African territories, as well as the 11 official languages within South Africa.
IPO and consolidation (2018–) In September 2018, Multichoice's parent company Naspers announced that it would separate its video entertainment business from the bulk of Naspers and list it separately on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). The new company would be called MultiChoice Group and would include MultiChoice South Africa, MultiChoice Africa, Showmax Africa, and Irdeto. The listing took place on 27 February 2019, with share code MCG. The share was immediately eligible for inclusion in the JSE Top40, the list of the largest 40 shares by market capitalisation.
In October 2020, French media company Groupe Canal+ acquired 12% stake in MultiChoice.
In November 2020, MultiChoice acquired 20% stake in Nigeria's sports betting company, BetKing with plans to launch it in South Africa. In June 2021, they increased their stake to 49%.
As of February 10, 2023, French media company Groupe Canal+ retains a 30.27% stake in the company.
Composition
M-Net
M-Net is a satellite television subscription service which was established in 1986 and has since spawned into 9 affiliated channels – 3 for series and 5 for films/movies – including its flagship channel.
Showmax
Showmax is an online video-on-demand subscription service which was established in 2015.
SuperSport
SuperSport is a collection of sports channels broadcast on the DStv satellite and GOtv terrestrial services. It was established as a sports segment on the M-Net in 1988 and became an individual channel in 1995. It is affiliated with ESPN, Sky Sports and Fox Sports Australia and since 2003 has expanded to over 20 sports-and-leagues-specific TV channels. It also owns a football club called SuperSport United F.C.