The company that now owns DStv is spending heavily to patch up a very public falling-out. Canal+, the French pay-TV group that recently took over MultiChoice, has signed what it calls an unprecedented five-year agreement with France's film industry, committing 980 million euros, almost R19 billion, to French and European cinema from 2028. That works out to nearly 200 million euros a year, and it comes with a prize attached: Canal+ keeps the right to stream the best films just six months after they reach cinemas.
From threat to truce The deal is a peace offering after a bruising year. Industry players had grown uneasy about the influence of Canal+'s largest shareholder, billionaire Vincent Bolloré, and the tension boiled over into an open letter signed by thousands of film professionals. Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada then poured petrol on the fire in May, suggesting the group would refuse to finance films made by anyone who had signed the petition. The new agreement, struck with France's main cinema guilds, is meant to draw a line under that fight and restore some stability after the industry panicked about budget cuts. Canal+ is a heavyweight in its own right, with more than 40 million subscribers across over 70 countries and about 15,000 employees, and MultiChoice now sits inside that wider group. The new money is aimed especially at first-time filmmakers, debut films, animation and the mid-budget "films du milieu" that France sees as vital to renewing its cinema.
Why the six-month window matters The timing is not charity. France's film regulator reported that total investment in approved films fell 4.8% in 2025, to 1.37 billion euros, partly because Canal+ itself had trimmed its spending, having cut its 2025 to 2027 allocation to 480 million euros from 600 million. In exchange for carrying a big share of the industry's bill, Canal+ gets to broadcast films six months after their cinema release, a real edge over Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney, which have to wait at least nine months. For South African viewers, the backdrop is familiar spending on a grander scale: MultiChoice, now under the Canal+ umbrella, has earmarked R21 billion for local productions over the next three years.
Whether nearly a billion euros is enough to fully mend Canal+'s relationship with France's creatives, or whether the Bolloré unease lingers, is the story to watch as the 2028 start date approaches.
