DSTV is owned by Multichoice which is then owned by Naspers. Naspers is Africa’s most valuable company having interests across media, e-commerce, internet services and a considerable stake in Chinese internet giant Tencent.
While the rest of the company well, the video entertainment division that being Multichoice that was recently merged with showmax is not doing well. Its DSTV premium products has been losing customers than it can replace them and this is as a result of tight competition from internet streaming options especially Netflix, that is giving the PayTV giant a run for its money especially on its home turf of South Africa.
Naspers is now unbundling it’s video entertainment division into a separate entity that will be listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
The new unbundled entity will he called Multichoice Group and will comprise of Multichoice South Africa Holdings, Multichoice Africa Holdings, Showmax Africa, NMS Insurance Services SA, Irdeto Holdings and irdeto SA.
The deal is awaiting regulatory approval from South African authorities and once approved, it will mark Naspers exit from the PayTV, catapulted by abandonment of its DSTV Premium service by consumers in favor of video streaming.
Even it’s video streaming entity Showmax is facing fierce rivalry from Netflix which is on steroids due to increased access to faster and cheaper internet services, especially in its home country of South Africa while the rest of Africa is catching up as well.
