If the first four parts of this MadMen, Dreamers and Deal-Makers series were about the machine, how it was built from accidents, battered by economics, bruised by burnout, and handed to a new generation, this part is about something stranger. What happens when the machine learns to think? Not “think” like a creative director pacing in Kololo at 2 am, or a media buyer staring at a GRP spreadsheet. Think in code. In predictions. In prompts. When the tools you once used to execute your ideas start quietly suggesting ideas of their own. For nearly four decades, Uganda’s advertising engine…
This Is Premium Content. Subscribe And Save On Unlimited Access With Our Best Offers!
The completion of Canal+’s takeover of MultiChoice Group has ushered in one of the most dramatic leadership transitions Africa’s broadcasting industry has seen in decades. At the centre of this transformation are three pivotal appointments: David Mignot as Chief Executive Officer of MultiChoice, Nicolas Dandoy as Chief Financial Officer, and Calvo Mawela as Chair of Canal+ Africa. Mignot, a seasoned Canal+ executive with a deep understanding of emerging markets, assumes responsibility for steering MultiChoice into a new phase of integration with Canal+’s global strategy. His career trajectory illustrates both breadth and depth in telecommunications and media. A telecom engineer and…
This Is Premium Content. Subscribe And Save On Unlimited Access With Our Best Offers!
22 September 2025 marked a historic moment for Africa’s broadcasting industry. French entertainment giant CANAL+ announced that its mandatory takeover offer for the shares of MultiChoice Group it did not already own has become unconditional, with all regulatory approvals secured. The deal gives CANAL+ effective control of MultiChoice, Africa’s largest pay-TV operator, and sets the stage for the integration of the two companies. Together, they will serve more than 40 million subscribers across nearly 70 countries, creating one of the world’s largest media and entertainment groups. The Road to Effective Control CANAL+ has steadily built its stake in MultiChoice, the…
This Is Premium Content. Subscribe And Save On Unlimited Access With Our Best Offers!
Vincent Bolloré, born in 1952 in Boulogne-Billancourt, France, inherited and transformed his family’s modest paper-manufacturing business into a sprawling, multinational conglomerate. Under his leadership, Bolloré Group expanded into diverse sectors, from logistics and media to energy and plantations, marking a strategic pivot from traditional industry to global influence A media powerhouse Media and communications have become central to Bolloré’s empire, with the group holding substantial stakes in major media and entertainment firms, including Universal Music Group (18.5%), Canal+ (30.4%), Havas (30.4%), Vivendi (27.6%), and Louis Hachette Group (30.4%). These holdings position Bolloré as a key figure in shaping global media…
This Is Premium Content. Subscribe And Save On Unlimited Access With Our Best Offers!
Ugandans will determine whether French media giant Groupe Canal+ effectively completes the takeover of South Africa’s MultiChoice and GOTV in Uganda. The move is part of a larger acquisition in more than 50 countries. In a notice on Tuesday, broadcast regulator, Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), noted that Groupe Canal+ had applied for the transfer of shares for the control of MultiChoice subsidiaries in Uganda. This followed the completion of a $3 billion deal in July to acquire 100% of MultiChoice Group, the parent company of DStv and GOtv in Uganda. The move marks the latest step in a transaction that…
This Is Premium Content. Subscribe And Save On Unlimited Access With Our Best Offers!
Pay television company MultiChoice Uganda, which operates DStv and GOtv, will adjust its package prices, effective August 1. The adjustment, MultiChoice said in a notice, were occasioned by economic pressures…
In a potential game-changing move for South Africa’s pay-TV market, MultiChoice is considering unbundling its popular SuperSport channels from its DStv offering, according to a Reuters report published Thursday. The…
Pay television platform – DStv – is losing at least UGX2.7 billion due to illegal reproduction of its exclusive content by third parties through internet live streaming. An investigation by Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), which followed a formal complaint by MultiChoice Uganda found that residential and commercial piracy had led to enormous financial bleeding with DStv, as one of the its affected platforms losing at least UGX 2.74 billion per year. DStv, a direct broadcast satellite television service, is owned by MultiChoice. The company also owns GOtv. Thus, UCC has instituted a multi-agency probe that is seeking to find…
This Is Premium Content. Subscribe And Save On Unlimited Access With Our Best Offers!
Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) has asked the standards agency to investigate the illegal importation of streaming devices that are being used on the local market to reproduce content that is exclusive to MultiChoice Uganda. In a 13th February letter to Uganda National Bureau Standards (UNBS), UCC noted that following a complaint from MultiChoice over the illegal streaming of its exclusive content aired on DStv, it had investigated and found evidence of several devices that are being used to bypass MultiChoice systems. In its complaint, Multichoice had told UCC that numerous entities in Uganda were importing, selling and utilizing illegal internet…
This Is Premium Content. Subscribe And Save On Unlimited Access With Our Best Offers!
As a way of celebrating Africa Day and the love of African cinema, the MultiChoice Group and the MultiChoice Talent Factory (MTF) have launched Colours of Africa film series. The series will feature 16 films shot and directed by the MTF Academy’s Class of 2020, available on Showmax on Africa Day and M-Net Movies AfroCinema pop-up channel from 21 – 30 May 2021. Viewers will get to sink their teeth into a selection of films from East, West and Southern Africa, and marvel at the results of the talent honed by the MTF Academy’s distinctive curriculum. “The Colours of Africa…
This Is Premium Content. Subscribe And Save On Unlimited Access With Our Best Offers!
