MultiChoice Considers Unbundling SuperSport From DStv

As DStv continues to fall victim to streaming rivals like Netflix and Disney+ (and its own pricing scheme), MultiChoice has launched an investigation that may eventually result in the unbundling of SuperSport from the rest of DStv, in a desperate bid to drive up subscriber numbers. And it just might work.

This will not offer potential customers the chance to subscribe to a sports-only package, however much we might want it to. MultiChoice’s strategy involves unbundling SuperSport from the entertainment side of DStv, allowing customers to pick up a smaller, cheaper entertainment plan, and ‘bolt on’ the sports they do watch, like cricket or football.

SuperSport’s being a good sport

This is how many pay-TV models operate around the world, with the UK’s Sky being one of the more prominent ones. MultiChoice Group CEO Calvo Mawela confirmed that the company was looking into the idea in an interview with TechCentral, following the release of its latest financial year-end results.

“Over this [two-year] period, the group lost 2.8m active linear subscribers and had to absorb a ZAR10.2bn negative impact on its topline due to local currency depreciation against the US dollar,” MultiChoice said.

Don’t expect SuperSport to go it alone anytime soon. Mawela said that MultiChoice expects to conclude the investigation before the end of the current financial year (31 March 2026), which leads us to believe we’ll be hearing the results sometime in January or February 2026. With the 2026 FIFA World Cup just around the corner, many would agree that the change is a welcome one.

“We think that in this financial year we should have a view of which direction to take, and as soon as we have made that, we should be able to update you,” Mawela said, noting that the big change must work, delivering revenue, profit, and subscriber growth — and not make matters worse.

DStv knows the value of its SuperSport monopoly in South Africa, and isn’t willing to give it up so easily. It’s one of the few remaining factors that keep customers coming back for more in the face of growing content libraries elsewhere, and as such, MultiChoice reaffirmed its stance that it won’t be making these bundles available to other broadcasters. “We need to keep it exclusive,” Mawela said.

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