DStv’s high entry price is killing subscriber growth, says Canal+

MultiChoice Group parent, London-listed Canal+, has highlighted the cost of entering the DStv ecosystem as a big factor slowing subscriber growth of its main satellite offering.

In an investor presentation following the release of Groupe Canal+’s results for the year ended 31 December 2025 on Wednesday, Canal+ Africa CEO David Mignot said the cost of installation, excluding subscription costs, is much higher in regions operated by MultiChoice in Anglophone Africa compared to those operated by Canal+ in Francophone Africa.

“This is one area where we are correcting quickly. We are introducing subsidies and standardising set-top boxes and dishes,” said Mignot.

The cost of these subsidies is included in the €100-million “boost plan” Canal+ announced on Wednesday to arrest the decline in DStv’s subscriber base, which shrank from 14.9 million to 14.4 million in 2025.

Mignot’s presentation showed that the approximate installation cost in Canal+ countries is about €13, compared to €38 in MultiChoice territories — almost three times as much. Mignot said lowering the entry price is “absolutely key” to winning new subscribers.

“We do provide a premium experience, and there is an aspirational element to it, but it has to be accessible,” he said.

‘Shift the focus’

But the pricing gap is only part of the problem. Mignot said MultiChoice also has far fewer points of sale per electrified household than Canal+ does in its own markets — roughly a third of the density. Canal+ plans to address this by recruiting more than a thousand salespeople across MultiChoice’s markets and expanding its distribution footprint.

These moves are part of a broader strategy to bring best practices from Canal+’s markets in Europe, Francophone Africa and Asia into MultiChoice’s operations in Anglophone Africa. Mignot said Canal+ has identified 270 best practices from across its global operations and is implementing them across 30 MultiChoice business units and countries under what it calls its “mastermind framework”.

Read: Canal+ shares crash on weak MultiChoice outlook

“We are going to shift the focus of our business much more towards sales. We are not only going to break the negative cycle, but we are also going to turn it around completely,” said Mignot.  — (c) 2026 NewsCentral Media