Final date for Showmax subscribers in South Africa
Following the announcement that local streamer Showmax is shutting down, the group has announced the final closing date for the service.
According to the group, 31 March will be the final date to renew their subscriptions or redeem vouchers, with no such options or new subscriptions available from 1 April.
Subscribers can keep watching as usual until their subscription ends, or until the end of April 2026, whichever comes first, it said.
The service said that key shows and Showmax originals will be transferred over to the DStv Stream platform over the next few months.
A dedicated Showmax section will be created in the DStv Stream app, where this content will reside for the time being.
Showmax content on DStv will be available to Compact (from R299 pm) and Premium (from R699 pm) satellite and streaming-only customers via the DStv Stream app.
It appears that standalone Showmax customers will have to choose between paying more for DStv Compact or cancelling their subscription.
However, the group said that more updates will follow to explain how current subscribers can keep watching their favourite shows.
At its recent financial reporting presentation, the new Multichoice owner, Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada, said the company will bring its over-the-top platform, the Canal+ app, to South Africa to replace Showmax.
No concrete plans for this have yet been unveiled.
More broadly, though, Canal+ is implementing a R1.9 billion “boost plan” for the struggling South African operations, which includes revisions to content, pricing structures and offering voluntary severance to certain employees.
The French media giant has flagged deteriorating fundamentals in Multichoice’s operations, including declining subscriber numbers and a difficult transition to OTT, marked by the “expensive failure” of Showmax.
Canal+ believes it can turn this around by streamlining Multichoice and DStv packages and shifting the business from production to sales.
To achieve this, it is willing to pump hundreds of millions of rands into building a massive sales team and marketing a more focused brand and identity.
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