DStv subscribers can breathe easy. The 12 Warner Bros. Discovery channels that were supposed to disappear on January 1 are staying put.
Canal+, which owns MultiChoice, struck a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery just hours before the midnight deadline on December 31.
The channels that were on the chopping block include heavy hitters like CNN, Cartoon Network, Discovery Channel, Food Network, HGTV, Investigation Discovery, TLC, TNT Africa, and Travel Channel.
More critically, the deal also covers HBO content on M-Net and Showmax, which means subscribers will still get access to shows like The Last of Us, House of the Dragon, and the upcoming Game of Thrones spin-off A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
According to TVwithThinus, MultiChoice had been negotiating with Warner Bros. Discovery for months, but talks hit a wall over pricing and terms.
The company warned subscribers in December that without a resolution, the channels would go dark on New Year’s Day. That would have been a significant blow considering HBO’s premium content has been a major draw for DStv’s premium packages.
The negotiations got more complicated because they weren’t just about South Africa or even Africa anymore. When Canal+ took over MultiChoice, they decided to bundle the African rights into a much larger deal that covers both Africa and Europe.
This meant Canal+ was negotiating not just for the usual MultiChoice territories, but also for countries like Poland, Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Belgium, and Austria.
The final agreement covers over 50 African countries and includes both exclusive and non-exclusive arrangements. CNN International and Cartoon Network will be exclusive to DStv in South Africa, while other territories get non-exclusive access.
The remaining channels, like Discovery, TLC, and Food Network, will be carried non-exclusively across the board.
There’s also a streaming angle to this story. HBO Max, which is already available in over 100 markets globally, is expected to roll out in Africa during 2026.
MultiChoice will likely carry it as a tile on DStv, similar to how they currently offer Netflix and Amazon Prime Video alongside their own Showmax service.
The multi-year deal ensures that South African viewers will get upcoming shows like the Green Lantern series Lanterns in 2026 and the new Harry Potter drama series starting in 2027.
Neither company is revealing exactly how many years the agreement covers, citing commercial sensitivity.
But while DStv dodged one bullet, they couldn’t avoid another. 4 channels from Paramount Africa are still shutting down: BET Africa, MTV Base, CBS Reality, and CBS Justice.
Paramount Africa closed its South African operations entirely at the end of December, ending its reach to over 100 million viewers across 52 African territories. Those channels went dark on January 1.
Let’s also not forget that Warner Bros. Discovery was dealing with takeover interest from both Netflix and Paramount Skydance, which added another layer of uncertainty to the negotiations.
Still, Canal+ played hardball and got what they wanted, which is a consolidated deal that strengthens their position across two continents.
