Canal Plus acquires raft of Multichoice subs



The international division of French pay-TV operator Canal Plus has acquired a raft of Multichoice’s African subscriber base.

Canal Overseas has bought the central African French-speaking customer base of Naspers-backed pay-TV operator Multichoice. Specifically, the acquired subs are in Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Canal Overseas has also picked up the French-speaking TV rights to the English Premier League soccer division for sub-Saharan Africa. No financial details were released for either deal.

The move follows a period when MultiChoice broke an informal agreement with Canal Plus to distribute its service only in anglophone territories in Africa by launching a bouquet of channels in French. This was followed by a threat by Canal Plus to enter English-speaking markets, possibly through the acquisition of the failed low-cost pay-TV service GTV.