Canal+ now controls MultiChoice, but the French media group won’t directly set DStv and GOtv prices in Nigeria.
MultiChoice Nigeria says its local management team will continue to decide pricing, channel packages, content and distribution based on conditions in the Nigerian market. That distinction matters for millions of DStv and GOtv customers who want to know what Canal+ ownership could actually change.
Canal+ took effective control of MultiChoice in September 2025 after completing its takeover. The deal brought DStv, GOtv, Showmax, SuperSport and other MultiChoice businesses into a much larger international media group. MultiChoice Nigeria CEO Kemi Omotosho says the Nigerian operation still makes its main commercial decisions locally. That includes what Nigerians pay for DStv and GOtv.
Ownership Doesn’t Mean Control Omotosho said MultiChoice Nigeria will continue to base its decisions on the economic conditions and preferences of Nigerian customers. She said the local executive team remains responsible for DStv and GOtv pricing, content, channel packaging and distribution.
That doesn’t mean Canal+ has no influence over the Nigerian business, though. Canal+ owns the wider MultiChoice group, so it can provide technology, expertise, content relationships and capital that shape the direction of the business. But MultiChoice says its Nigerian executives will decide how to apply those resources locally.
The difference between ownership and day-to-day commercial decisions matters here. A global owner can shape the wider strategy, but local managers still have to grapple with Nigerian inflation, consumer income, competition and regulation when they set prices.
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MultiChoice Was Already Struggling
Canal+ didn’t acquire MultiChoice at an easy point in the pay-TV company’s history.
MultiChoice has lost subscribers as consumers across Africa cut discretionary spending and streaming platforms compete harder for viewers. Its latest published results before the takeover showed active linear subscribers falling by 1.2 million, or 8%, to 14.5 million. South Africa and the rest of Africa each accounted for about half of that decline.
Nigeria had become a particular pressure point. MultiChoice’s earlier financial disclosures showed Nigeria accounting for 63% of subscriber losses in its Rest of Africa operation since the 2023 financial year. A weaker naira also cut the value of revenue earned in Nigeria once the group converted it into foreign currency.
For Canal+, fixing that problem will take more than owning MultiChoice. It must help the business hold onto customers who now have more entertainment options and less disposable income.
What Canal+ Can Still Change
Local pricing control doesn’t leave Canal+ on the sidelines, though. Its scale could still affect what MultiChoice offers Nigerian customers.
Canal+ operates across dozens of markets and now combines its existing African business with MultiChoice’s position in English and Portuguese-speaking Africa. This combined group can negotiate content, share technology and spread investment across a much larger customer base.
MultiChoice Nigeria says it can adopt ideas and technology that work elsewhere while adapting them to Nigeria. That could eventually affect how customers watch content, the packages they buy and the channels available to them.
MultiChoice has already tested more flexible models as it tries to retain price-sensitive customers. Before the Canal+ takeover, the company piloted weekly DStv subscriptions in Uganda and considered expanding the model to markets including Nigeria. It also explored more flexible channel packages.
Canal+’s ownership could hand MultiChoice more resources to develop such products. But Omotosho’s comments make one point clear: Nigeria won’t simply copy decisions made in another Canal+ market. MultiChoice Nigeria insists local managers will continue to decide what works for DStv and GOtv customers in the country.
For subscribers, the real test will come when the company next changes prices, packages or channels. That decision will reveal just how much local control MultiChoice Nigeria actually retains under its new global owner.
