By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
MultiChoice Group and Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Sky on Thursday unveiled a partnership that “will bring some of the world’s best content and technology to streaming customers across Multichoice’s 50-market footprint in sub-Saharan Africa at a time when Africa is approaching an inflection point in terms of broadband connectivity and affordability.”
They will form the new Showmax group, which will be 70 percent owned by MultiChoice and 30 percent owned by NBCUniversal.
“It will build on Showmax’s success to date and aim to create the leading streaming service in Africa,” the companies said.
“Powered by Peacock’s leading, globally-scaled technology, Showmax subscribers will have access to an extensive premium content portfolio, bringing African audiences the best of local and international programming.”
The “new” Showmax will continue to offer local content from MultiChoice’s Mzansi Magic, Africa Magic and Maisha Magic.
MultiChoice said that Comcast’s technology, particularly NBCUniversal’s Peacock platform – which has over 20 million subscribers in the US – will be used, which would mean the new Showmax group would be “exceptionally well placed to scale rapidly and become the leading platform in Africa”.
“Due to competitive sensitivities, specifics about the unique service offering, how existing subscribers can seamlessly migrate to the new service and detailed pricing will be announced closer to the launch date,” it said. The transaction, still subject to certain conditions, is expected to be concluded in April.
Comcast, through its subsidiary NBCUniversal, will inject cash for a 30% equity stake in a new UK registered-company, EarthCo, which will trade as Showmax, MultiChoice said, without giving financial details.
“The global video media landscape has changed rapidly in recent years, led by broadband adoption and the growth of direct-to-consumer streaming platforms,” it said.
“Although Africa has lagged somewhat, it is now approaching an inflection point in terms of broadband connectivity and affordability,” MultiChoice said, meaning this was an appropriate time to step up its ambitions for subscription video-on-demand and internet-based media services.
MultiChoice launched Showmax in 2015. It doesn’t provide detailed breakdowns of subscriber numbers for the service in its reports.
MultiChoice had 21 million subscribers at the end of September, 12.19 million of which were in Africa. Showmax is a paid service available as a standalone product or as a value-added service to DStv Premium subscribers and at a 50% discount to customers on certain lower-tier DStv packages.
Further details about the new Showmax service, including launch date, content and pricing will be announced at a later date.