I covered the mechanics of the Showmax shutdown earlier today — the NBCUniversal joint venture that needs to be unwound, the legal issues delaying a specific closure date, and what Canal+ has said publicly. That report looked mainly at the business side.
At the same time, Showmax subscribers received an unexpected email confirming the service will shut down "in the near future." No date. No transition plan. No explanation of what happens to titles, active productions, or existing commissioning relationships.
Across the continent, particularly in eastern, western, and southern African markets, the reaction from industry professionals of all stripes and consumers has been confusion, frustration, and a creeping sense that the closure is part of a larger, even ongoing, structural breakdown. What comes next? The loss of another major commissioning platform on the continent? Why was the decision communicated in a seemingly thoughtless manner?
On X and Instagram, initial responses are disbelief, disappointment, and even sarcasm. Several posts frame the shutdown as confirmation of a streaming environment already in retreat. Some anticipate a return of debates about why global platforms have "pulled back from Africa."
"People feel defeated," said Ikeade Oriade of African Film Press (AFP) Nigeria partner What Kept Me Up. "It comes after Netflix, and then Amazon Prime Video scaled back with very little communication. The Showmax decision feels abrupt because there is almost no messaging about what happens next. Normally, that information comes immediately — this is what the transition looks like."
He was referring to earlier reconsiderations by global streaming platforms operating on the continent, including Netflix reducing local commissioning primarily to South Africa, and Amazon Prime Video's early 2024 exit from African originals.
Among industry professionals, a key complaint is not just the decision itself but also the absence of any transition plan in the announcement.
Jennifer Ochieng of AFP East Africa partner Sinema Focus (Kenya-based) added, "That email should have come with a plan. Yes, we're shutting down Showmax, but what then? It was vague through and through. Without clarity on what comes next, that's what you're seeing: people speculating, people panicking."
The concern is understandably sharpest in markets where Showmax invested most heavily in local originals. In Kenya, for example, the platform arguably became one of the largest investors in local television and film content over the past five years. Industry professionals there now worry about an immediate gap in commissioning and financing, with no clarity yet on what replaces it.
Ochieng identified the geographic fault line: "South Africa's creative industry is protected. But there are markets hanging in the balance. It helps explain a specific kind of alarm."
She is referring to the binding commitments Canal+ made to South African regulators as a condition of the MultiChoice acquisition — commitments that specifically protect South Africa's creative industry. No equivalent obligations cover Kenya, Nigeria, or other markets.
From Nairobi, Gloria Nkatha of the Talk Film To Me podcast called it "a really big hit," and also raised the possibility that the contraction could push African filmmakers toward building their own platforms, regional collaborations, or driving theatrical expansion across the continent.
The reaction online is also an indication of how little public information has circulated about the Canal+ takeover itself. Some of the confusion and speculation appear to stem from a lack of clarity about the French media conglomerate's plans for the combined company.
Oriade pushed back, particularly against the rush to assign blame. "A lot of misinformation has been flying around," he said. "Even in Nigeria, people are already saying it's the government's fault. It's important for everyone in each affected market to note that this is actually an Africa-wide business decision. No one person did anything wrong. The business just stopped making sense from Canal+'s perspective."
Against that backdrop, the three African Film Press (AFP) partners connected in our WhatsApp group, and we agreed that the honest structure for responding was to start by simply separating what can be verified from what remains uncertain.
Showmax was a commissioning entity. When it closes, that specific buyer disappears. That is a real, concrete loss. It's correct that fewer platforms mean fewer commissioners, and the anxiety is legitimate.
The Showmax Originals catalogue does not disappear. It migrates to linear DStv channels (Africa Magic, M-Net, kykNET, Mzansi Magic). That is not the same as new commissioning, but it's not erasure either. Existing commissioning contracts also do not automatically dissolve when a platform shuts down; rights and window agreements must be reassigned, bought out, or renegotiated before titles move elsewhere.
Canal+ itself is an active commissioner with production infrastructure already in place in Nigeria (ROK Studios), Côte d'Ivoire (Plan A), Rwanda (Zacu Entertainment), and Senegal (Marodi TV). Those media companies do not suddenly end with Showmax. Whether Canal+ will commission at Showmax's volume is, more or less, something that might be answered in about six days, when Canal+ publishes its first full-year results (including post-acquisition) on March 11, 2026.
The Canal+/Netflix distribution deal in Francophone Africa is a distribution arrangement. Canal+ offers Netflix as part of its subscription packages across 22+ French- or partially French-speaking African countries. It does not affect what Netflix itself commissions in Africa, which is a separate decision Netflix makes independently. The key point here is that Netflix can still commission films and series if it chooses to. And I wouldn't entirely rule out co-produced projects with Canal+ in markets where the streaming giant gained traction early, even though they eventually scaled back (Nigeria and Kenya notably).
The Canal+/MultiChoice integration also retains senior MultiChoice leadership within the Canal+ Africa structure, meaning some executives who previously oversaw DStv and Showmax commissioning continue to hold high-level roles in the combined company.
What is genuinely uncertain and should be stated as such: When myCANAL — Canal+'s global streaming platform, already operating across Francophone Africa — expands into Anglophone Africa, will it do so with real commissioning budgets for local originals, or will it rely primarily on the existing Canal+ catalogue and acquisitions? Canal+ has not said. Whether the unified Canal+/MultiChoice entity will produce a net increase or net decrease in African original commissioning also remains an open question.
My realistic but grounded response: To reiterate, the concern is certainly real; I'm not downplaying it. But the picture before us is not entirely complete. Moreover, we can say with some certainty that this is not a case of simple subtraction. One streaming platform closes; a pay-TV group that now controls the platform's parent company — with roughly 23 million African subscribers, binding local-content spending obligations in South Africa, and equity stakes in four African production companies — absorbs the platform's market.
But to Nkatha's point earlier in the piece, this kind of shock may also compel more local actors — streaming platforms, entrepreneurs, producers, financiers, and others across the chain — to step in and fill gaps (country, regional, continental), or at least reconsider how much of the sector's future continues to rest on outside players.
The reactions in response to today's news will likely continue until March 11, when Canal+ publishes its first combined financial results since completing the MultiChoice acquisition in September 2025. The volume and consistency of the backlash effectively provide Canal+ executives with an early preview of the concerns they would need to address regarding the future of MultiChoice and its markets. As I stated in a recent Akoroko Premium report, I can't think of a more anticipated or consequential upcoming presentation — even more so given today's turbulence.
Tambay Obenson
