Multichoice teams up with NBCUniversal and Sky to relaunch Showmax

Multichoice, NBCUniversal, and Sky have announced a partnership which will see the relaunch of a new version of Showmax which will be powered by NBCUniversal’s Peacock technology platform and broadcast English Premier League matches.

The partnership, which will be in the form of a holding group, 70% owned by MultiChoice and 30% by NBCUniversal. In Nigeria, one of Multichoice’s major markets, NBCUniversal will hold an indirect 23.7% stake in the local subsidiary.

“We launched Showmax as the first African streaming service in 2015 and are extremely proud of its success to date. This agreement represents a great opportunity for our Showmax team to scale even greater heights by working with a leading global player in Comcast and its subsidiaries,” said Calvo Mawela, chief executive officer of MultiChoice.

Powered by NBCUniversal’s Peacock technology, Showmax subscribers will have access to a content portfolio which includes local content and international content licensed from NBCUniversal and Sky, third-party content from HBO, Warner Brothers International, Sony and others, as well as live English Premier League (EPL) games.

Multichoice has been doubling down on streaming for a while now as subscriber numbers for DStv, its flagship satellite television platform, have been tanking. 

NBCUniversal, on the other hand, seems to want to use the partnership to further expand its presence on the continent by leveraging MultiChoice’s 50-market footprint in sub-Saharan Africa, at a time when Africa is approaching an inflexion point in terms of broadband connectivity and affordability.

“This partnership is an incredible opportunity to further scale the global presence of Peacock’s world-class streaming technology, as well as to introduce millions of new customers to extensive premium content from NBCUniversal and Sky’s stellar entertainment brands,” said Matt Strauss, chairman, direct-to-consumer & international, NBCUniversal.