Showmax shows are getting a new home on DStv Stream.

• Showmax will shut down on 30 April 2026, with 31 March as the last day for renewals or voucher use.
• Canal+ is closing Showmax due to heavy losses and poor performance.
• “Your favourite shows are getting a shiny new home on DStv Stream,” MultiChoice told subscribers.

Showmax will sunset on 30 April 2026, with 31 March as the final day for subscribers to renew their subscriptions or redeem vouchers for the streaming service.

“Showmax is starting a new chapter, and your favourite shows are getting a shiny new home on DStv Stream. Even better, they’ll be joining a bigger world of entertainment, all in one place,” MultiChoice said on Wednesday evening in a message to Showmax subscribers.

According to MultiChoice’s correspondence, existing Showmax customers will be able to continue watching content “as usual, until your subscription ends, or until the end of April 2026 – whichever comes first”.

Canal+ executives reviewed MultiChoice’s challenging attempt to establish a streaming service to compete with Netflix in Africa. Two weeks ago, they announced the decision to close Showmax, noting that it “would have brought down MultiChoice”.

MultiChoice confirmed to News24 in response to a media query that the “Showmax services closes on 30 April”.

MultiChoice said“Showmax Originals and more will be available to DStv Compact and DStv Premium satellite and streaming-only customers via the DStv Stream app” and that “more movies and series will be added over the coming weeks”.

MultiChoice added “The stories that defined Showmax are not disappearing. Instead, they are finding a new home on DStv Stream, where a dedicated Showmax section inside the app brings together many of Showmax’s most acclaimed originals and fan favourites alongside the full live streaming experience available on DStv’s standalone streaming service. Showmax Originals and more will be available on DStv Compact and DStv Premium packages exclusively on DStv Stream.”

In a prepared statement, Nomsa Philiso, director of content for general entertainment English and Portuguese speaking territories at MultiChoice, said, “Series like The Wife, Youngins, Devilsdorp, and Adulting, along with productions from Nigeria, Kenya and across the continent, were created through collaboration between MultiChoice’s content teams and local producers. That commitment to African storytelling does not change”.

MultiChoice launched Showmax in August 2015. Showmax was relaunched in February 2024 in partnership with Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Sky in the United Kingdom, but immediately became a bottomless money pit, failing to meet the lofty subscriber-growth targets that MultiChoice executives had promised investors before the relaunch.

OPINION | The folly of Showmax: How the African streaming dream went up in flames

After its takeover of MultiChoice, Maxime Saada, the CEO of Canal+, said the new owner realised that Showmax was a massive financial drain on MultiChoice. NBCUniversal has a 30% stake in Showmax, and Canal+ has refused to say what it is paying NBCUniversal to end the disastrous partnership in the streaming service venture.

Some Showmax Originals have quietly been rebranded and will transition to M-Net’s linear TV channels, including M-Net, kykNET and Mzansi Magic. For instance, the second season of the Canal+ and MultiChoice co-production Spinners, which was filmed in Cape Town and specifically created for a Showmax audience. Wura, the Nigerian adaptation of Mzansi Magic’s The River telenovela, has been rebranded as an Africa Magic Original, which will debut its fourth season on DStv’s Africa Magic Showcase and Africa Magic Family TV channels on 30 March.

DStv Stream, however, will not be the final “one place” for the transition of Showmax Originals. After Showmax content is moved to DStv Stream, it will eventually migrate again once Canal+ rolls out its own video streaming service in SA and across sub-Saharan Africa within a few months.

For now, 31 March 2026 will be the very last day for subscribers to renew their Showmax subscriptions or redeem any outstanding vouchers. From 1 April 2026, absolutely no new Showmax subscriptions and renewals will be available or work.

In addition to the transition of Showmax content to the Canal+ app, Canal+ Africa is also working to expand its existing partnership with Netflix in Francophone Africa. The goal is to roll out Netflix bundling with DStv in South Africa and across the rest of English-speaking sub-Saharan Africa.

In Francophone Africa, Canal+ and Netflix have had a partnership since July 2025, in which Netflix access is bundled into certain premium Canal+ subscriptions at no extra cost. This is what Canal+ plans to do for MultiChoice’s English-speaking territories as well.

“We are discussing extending that partnership, and we will be learning from the first partnership from French-speaking territories to improve it in other parts of Africa. Yes, it is our intention to extend Canal+‘s partnership to the rest of Africa,” David Mignot, Canal+ Africa boss, told News24 last week.

READ MORE | ‘Showmax would have brought down MultiChoice’: Canal+ execs on its replacement plans and more