Canal+ Moves to Shut Down Showmax After Years of Losses

Canal+ and MultiChoice confirmed earlier today that Showmax, the pan-African streaming service currently operated as a joint venture between MultiChoice and NBCUniversal (Comcast), will be discontinued. Subscribers received an official notification on March 5 stating that the Showmax board had decided to shut down the service "in the near future," with no specific date provided. The email told subscribers that service would continue uninterrupted in the interim, that no action was required from them, and that they would receive advance notice before anything changes.

The announcement ends what has been a troubled chapter for one of the continent's most prominent streaming platforms. Showmax launched in 2015 as a MultiChoice product and was relaunched in 2024 as a joint venture with NBCUniversal, which brought Peacock content and a restructured technology stack to the service. That relaunch was accompanied by significant investment and a repositioning as a premium sports and entertainment destination — but subscriber growth remained well below projections, and the service struggled to compete against free-to-air alternatives and the entrenched dominance of DStv in the pay-TV segment.