MultiChoice’s big Showmax streaming JV with Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Sky

MultiChoice Group announced its biggest move yet in the streaming space on Thursday, revealing a joint-venture with Nasdaq-listed global entertainment giant Comcast to bolster its Showmax bouquet in Africa.

The agreement, according to a MultiChoice Sens statement, will see Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Sky offering included on Showmax to create the “leading streaming service in Africa”.

It will result in the formation of a “new 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”.

MultiChoice said the streaming venture will be powered by Comcast’s Peacock globally-scaled technology.

“The new Showmax group will be 70% owned by MultiChoice and 30% by NBCUniversal. It will build on Showmax’s success to date and strive to create the leading streaming service in Africa,” it added.

The move comes in the wake of increasing competition from streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video in Africa, where MultiChoice has historically dominated the satellite TV game.

“The service will combine MultiChoice’s accelerating investment in local content with an extensive pipeline of international content licensed from NBCUniversal and Sky.

“This will be complemented by third party content from HBO, Warner Brothers International, Sony and others, as well as live English Premier League football,” said MultiChoice.

“In addition, it will offer access to all the best African content such as Showmax Originals and local content from MultiChoice’s proprietary channels including Mzansi Magic, Africa Magic and Maisha Magic,” it pointed out.

MultiChoice said that the transactions contemplated in the agreement do not fall within a category transaction as defined in the JSE Listings Requirements. It therefore did not cite the value of the deal in its Sens statement.

Rationale

MultiChoice noted that the global video media landscape has changed rapidly in recent years, led by broadband adoption and the growth of direct-to-consumer streaming platforms.

“Although Africa has lagged somewhat, it is now approaching an inflection point in terms of broadband connectivity and affordability. While MultiChoice continues to invest in its linear pay-TV businesses to drive growth and increased penetration, it believes that this is an appropriate time to step up its ambition and investment in the subscription video-on-demand [SVOD] /over-the-top [OTT] segment,” it added.

MultiChoice launched Showmax as the first African streaming service in 2015 and it is currently one of the leading streaming platforms on the continent.