DStv Subscribers: 2021 to 2026

What the Count Covers

MultiChoice does not publish a figure for DStv alone. Its “subscribers” line adds DStv, the satellite service, and GOtv, the cheaper terrestrial service, and leaves Showmax out. The company defines a subscriber as one with “an active primary/principal subscription on the reporting date” (FY25 results presentation). A second, larger count, “90-day active”, includes anyone whose subscription was active at some point in the 90 days before that date.

The financial year closes on 31 March. A figure labelled “FY2025” by MultiChoice is a count on 31 March 2025, while “2025” in Canal+'s accounts means 31 December 2025. The two dates give different numbers.

DStv and GOtv Subscribers by Year

Sources: MultiChoice Group results for FY21, FY23 (with FY22 as comparative), FY24, the interim results to 30 September 2024 (with 2023 as comparative) and FY25. Company figures, not audited as such.

Between 31 March 2023 and 31 March 2025 the group went from 17.31 million to 14.51 million subscribers, a loss of 2.8 million. South Africa lost 1.0 million and the rest of Africa 1.8 million. In the FY25 presentation MultiChoice attributes 77% of its subscriber losses to Nigeria.

The 90-day count fell from 23.51 million to 18.59 million over the same two years.

What Canal+ Publishes Since the Takeover

Canal+ took control of MultiChoice in September 2025 and delisted it in December. Its accounts run on the calendar year and show MultiChoice as a single block, net of subscribers who also hold a Canal+ subscription, with no split by country.

Canal+ management figures for MultiChoice, not audited.

The June and December figures belong to the same series and differ by more than a million: 13.1 million at the end of June 2025, 14.4 million at the end of December. Canal+ does not explain the gap in the documents read for this page.

At the end of June 2026 the block stood at 13.2 million, up 1% in a year, a portfolio Canal+ describes as “broadly flat” (half-year results, 28 July 2026). It credits the Africa Cup of Nations and the World Cup with offsetting the decline. Gross additions in MultiChoice countries rose 40%. The third-quarter update of 22 October 2026 gives MultiChoice revenue for nine months, €1,805M, down 3.0% at constant scope and currency, and no subscriber count. The next figures are due with the 2026 annual results on 4 March 2027. The takeover itself is covered in the Canal+ / MultiChoice deal, explained.

Country Figures

MultiChoice never split its count below South Africa and “Rest of Africa”. The only country series in the open comes from a regulator. The Communications Authority of Kenya publishes the satellite subscribers each operator declares, and lists 188,824 for DStv on 30 June 2025, then 270,017 on 30 September 2025. GOtv went from 314,520 to 444,007 over the same quarter (sector statistics, July-September 2025).

No comparable figure was found for Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda or Zambia.

DStv Prices in South Africa

DStv renamed its packages on 17 September 2026. Monthly prices, checked on dstv.com on 10 November 2026:

Compact Plus is unchanged and closed to new subscriptions; no price is displayed for it. DStv Stream, the internet-only version of the service, costs less than the decoder version for every package except Movies & Series.

Showmax and DStv Stream

Neither appears in the subscriber count, and MultiChoice published no absolute number for either. For Showmax it gave growth rates only, up 44% in paying subscribers over FY25, with revenue of ZAR 753M that year. Canal+ shut Showmax at the end of April 2026; the losses are detailed in the Showmax post-mortem.