{"id":86918,"date":"2024-03-04T13:22:32","date_gmt":"2024-03-04T13:22:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/?p=86918"},"modified":"2025-11-17T17:41:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T17:41:09","slug":"television-in-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/2024\/03\/04\/television-in-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Global TV companies battle for dominance in Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The continent is split 3 ways along language lines between dominant satellite TV providers <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Showmax is gaining ground on Netflix in the streaming wars in South Africa<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A mostly positive by-product of the battle to be No 1 is the commissioning of locally made shows<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>South Africa&#8217;s Takeover Regulation Panel (TRP) has ruled that French satellite broadcaster Canal+ is obliged to make a takeover offer for SA\u2019s MultiChoice. Canal+ already owns more than 35% of MultiChoice, the threshold at which it is required to make a takeover offer. Canal+ holds it is not obliged to make an offer because it has limited voting rights as a foreign-owned company. The TRP disagreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the mechanics of the boardroom are intriguing it\u2019s also interesting that should Canal+ take over MultiChoice it would dominate satellite TV across most of the continent.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/TV1-providers.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-86919\" style=\"object-fit:cover\" srcset=\"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/TV1-providers.png 900w, https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/TV1-providers-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/TV1-providers-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/TV1-providers-768x768.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Right now the continent is split three ways when it comes to TV services: southern and eastern Africa are dominated by MultiChoice, central and west Africa are dominated by the French Canal+, and the Arabic Shahid network dominates north Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/TV-streaming-wars-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-86921\" style=\"object-fit:cover\" srcset=\"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/TV-streaming-wars-1.png 900w, https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/TV-streaming-wars-1-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/TV-streaming-wars-1-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/TV-streaming-wars-1-768x768.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Netflix vs Showmax<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>While Canal+ looks like it could be poised to be the dominant satellite provider on the continent, US-based Netflix battles for dominance of streaming platforms. Its competition in large parts of Africa, and especially in South Africa, is MultiChoice&#8217;s Showmax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Specific subscriber numbers for these services in Africa are hard to come by, but late last year research company Omdia declared Showmax as the new leader in African streaming services with&nbsp;<strong>2.1-million subscribers<\/strong>&nbsp;on the continent in November 2023 compared to&nbsp;<strong>1.8-million subscribers<\/strong>&nbsp;for Netflix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bulk of these subscribers are still in South Africa where the battle for the largest streaming audience is still in favour of Netflix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the UK\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/mediahack.cmail19.com\/t\/d-l-epiliy-ihnhrguh-i\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Digital TV Research<\/a>, there are&nbsp;<strong>1.2-million Netflix<\/strong>&nbsp;subscribers in South Africa versus&nbsp;<strong>Showmax&#8217;s 937,000 subscribers<\/strong>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"810\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/TV2-local-content.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-86922\" srcset=\"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/TV2-local-content.png 810w, https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/TV2-local-content-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/TV2-local-content-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/TV2-local-content-768x768.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 810px) 100vw, 810px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Local productions<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the prime battlefields for both Showmax and Netflix is local content with both investing increasing amounts in local productions in South Africa and Nigeria.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/mediahack.cmail19.com\/t\/d-l-epiliy-ihnhrguh-d\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">recent report<\/a>&nbsp;on its activities in Africa, Netflix said it had commissioned&nbsp;<strong>16 shows in South Africa<\/strong>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<strong>3 in Nigeria&nbsp;<\/strong>between 2016 and 2021.&nbsp;Netflix also&nbsp;<strong>licensed 283 shows in Nigeria<\/strong>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<strong>173 in South Africa<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Showmax hasn&#8217;t published comparable data that we know of but it does have a section on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/mediahack.cmail19.com\/t\/d-l-epiliy-ihnhrguh-h\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">local original content<\/a>. Based on this we can see&nbsp;<strong>39 local productions in South Africa<\/strong>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<strong>14 in Nigeria<\/strong>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the same report, Netflix said it had spent $125-million in operations in South Africa between 2016 and 2022. This included the 16 films and mini-series Netflix commissioned, such as the teen drama&nbsp;<em>Blood and Water<\/em>&nbsp;and the comedy mini-series&nbsp;<em>How to Ruin Christmas<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the same period, Netflix invested $23.6-million in Nigerian content resulting in 3 commissioned titles and 283 licensed ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Most popular in Africa on Netflix<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In another&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/mediahack.cmail19.com\/t\/d-l-epiliy-ihnhrguh-k\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">report<\/a>&nbsp;released last year, Netflix listed its most-watched shows between January and June 2023. Among the more than 18,000 titles are many of the South African and Nigerian shows commissioned by Netflix.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the top of the list is&nbsp;<strong>Unseen: Season 1<\/strong>, a South African thriller starring&nbsp;Gail Mabalane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Top African shows on Netflix<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"734\" src=\"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/TV4-table.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-86923\" srcset=\"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/TV4-table.png 900w, https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/TV4-table-300x245.png 300w, https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/TV4-table-768x626.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The French Canal+ is set to be the top satellite TV provider in Africa, while South Africa&#8217;s Showmax and US-based Netflix are facing off in the streaming wars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":86924,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,1387],"tags":[21,534,536,531,533,538,256,530,537,535,40,528,532,529,539],"newsletter-post":[],"site":[],"class_list":["post-86918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-surprise-me","category-the-outlier","tag-africa","tag-canal","tag-dstv","tag-local-content","tag-multichoice","tag-netflix","tag-nigeria","tag-satellite-tv","tag-shahid","tag-showmax","tag-south-africa","tag-streaming-services","tag-takeover-regulation-panel","tag-television","tag-unseen"],"acf":{"is_newsletter_post":"Yes","featured_chart":{"ID":86949,"id":86949,"title":"Africa TV providers 2024-03-05","filename":"Africa-TV-providers.png","filesize":141265,"url":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Africa-TV-providers.png","link":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/2024\/03\/04\/television-in-africa\/africa-tv-providers\/","alt":"Africa\u2019s dominant satellite TV providers are mostly divided along language lines","author":"2","description":"Vividendi's Canal+ is looking to become Africa\u2019s dominant broadcaster\nFrench company to make firm offer to buy SA\u2019s MultiChoice in April\nAfrica\u2019s TV services are split between MultiChoice, Canal+ and Shahid","caption":"Canal+ looks poised to become the dominant provider of satellite TV in Africa. Already the most popular choice in French-speaking Africa, it recently grew its stake in South African pay-TV group MultiChoice to 35%. This triggered a mandatory offer, according to company rules set by South Africa\u2019s Takeover Regulation Panel (TRP).\nAlthough Canal+ said it was not obliged to make an offer to shareholders as it has limited voting rights as a foreign-owned company, the TRP disagreed. Now Canal+ has said it will make a firm offer by 8 April.\nThe continent is split three ways when it comes to TV services: southern and eastern Africa are dominated by MultiChoice, the parent of DStv, SuperSport, Showmax and GOtv; central and west Africa are dominated by Canal+; and the Shahid network dominates north Africa. The divisions are mostly along language lines: English, French and Arabic, respectively.","name":"africa-tv-providers","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":86918,"date":"2024-03-05 06:08:06","modified":"2024-05-07 05:38:23","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1080,"height":1080,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Africa-TV-providers-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Africa-TV-providers-300x300.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Africa-TV-providers-768x768.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Africa-TV-providers-1024x1024.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Africa-TV-providers.png","1536x1536-width":1080,"1536x1536-height":1080,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Africa-TV-providers.png","2048x2048-width":1080,"2048x2048-height":1080}},"post_style":"ch","big_number":"","big_number_caption":"","big_number_link":"","big_number_background":"","big_number_text_colour":"#000000","flourish_chart_id":"","show_on_front":"Yes","link_through":"Yes","chart_url":"","background_colour":"#0089AA","text_colour":"#FFFFFF"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86918"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87427,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86918\/revisions\/87427"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86918"},{"taxonomy":"newsletter-post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletter-post?post=86918"},{"taxonomy":"site","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/site?post=86918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}