Home Entertainment Naspers to merge Showmax into Multichoice to create a new digital offering

Naspers to merge Showmax into Multichoice to create a new digital offering

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If you’re a DSTV Premium Subscriber – I consider you rich, please sponsor me, you may have already noticed that Showmax, Naspers’ Streaming Service has automatically been include as part of your package. It’s a nice surprise, especially for those of you who have already had a subscription for both and now get to save yourself the additional R99 monthly subscription fee that Showmax would normally cost on top of this.

However, it appears that this is more than just benevolence on the part of both Multichoice and Showmax, as a recent Channel24 report has revealed that Naspers is planning to merge DSTV Digital Media and Showmax into one new entity that falls under the Multichoice umbrella. Imtiaz Patel, the CEO of Naspers Video Entertainment had the following to say:

The time has come for us to align these two services more closely to create an even better entertainment experience for our customers and to truly innovate in this space

The report went on to indicate that the merging of these two divisions isn’t for cost cutting purposes, but purely strategic advantage – indicating that neither division was necessarily under strain financially, though this could easily just be some corporate PR jargon at play.

Personally, I’m not too surprised by this move, as, despite both companies operating as separate entities under Naspers, Showmax has always taken advantage of the contracts Naspers already has in place through their Multichoice umbrella. Merging both companies opens up a world of opportunities as it will mean Showmax could instantly get access to a wider choice of content currently available through DSTV, not to mention the big deal-breaker – sports.

Before we get too carried away though, not all of Mutlichoice’s cutting edge shows will necessarily include a streaming agreement, so there may still need to be some negotiations in place and if they do decide to add sports to their streaming service, it will likely drive streaming subscriptions up massively, as this content definitely does not come cheap.

Still, I think it is a great move by Naspers and one which if played right, could see them make bigger inroads into the South African streaming community which is so far probably happier with Netflix’s superior offering than Showmax’s current offering.

For now, we probably won’t see too much change, but expect a lot more to happen in the steaming space with this merger.

Last Updated: September 12, 2017

10 Comments

  1. Admiral Chief

    September 12, 2017 at 08:06

    Better stock up on vaseline

    Reply

  2. Ottokie

    September 12, 2017 at 08:20

    “Personally, I’m not too surprised by this movie, as, despite both companies operating as separate entities under Naspers”

    I was also not surprised by the bad Deadpool movie 😛

    Reply

    • Kromas Ryder

      September 12, 2017 at 08:50

      I was wondering what movie he was not surprised about as well. I am surprised however about your lack of humour cause Deadpool was awesome!

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief

        September 12, 2017 at 08:56

        Deapool is lyf

        Reply

  3. Gr8_Balls_o_Fire

    September 12, 2017 at 09:28

    DStv is a complete and utter waste of money. R14000 a year to watch tv??? lol

    Reply

  4. Sgt. M

    September 12, 2017 at 09:58

    DSTV is really trying hard to stay relevant. Honestly the last bargaining chip they have is Supersport

    Reply

    • I_am_Duffman!

      September 12, 2017 at 11:00

      It is not just a bargaining chip. It is THE chip. As long as they are the only player in the local market to bid for sports, they will make fortunes. I mean, SABC can’t even get the rights to show the Proteas test matches and the last couple of test series I couldn’t even get the radio commentary on Radio 2000 due to the lack of funds. The Bangladesh series is already confirmed to be without Radio commentary.

      Supersport has a huge monopoly.

      Reply

  5. Steffmeister

    September 13, 2017 at 08:54

    I feel so free without DSTV. Cancelled 2 years ago. No Regrets. R800 pm for sport. GITFS

    Reply

  6. Gardos

    September 13, 2017 at 11:01

    I just wish they could merge everything into one easy to use app. Showmax, DStv and Supersport.

    Reply

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