As sportbusiness.com reports, the France-based pay-TV broadcaster has been slowly increasing its stake in MultiChoice over the past few months.
Canal Plus has further raised its stake in MultiChoice, the owner of SuperSport and DStv.
Canal Plus’ shareholding now stands at 26.26%, up from 20.12% in July. The stake had risen to 18.44% in June.
Vivendi-owned Canal Plus first acquired a stake in MultiChoice in April 2020. It subsequently increased the stake over time and crossed the 15% threshold last year.
Following the latest investment, MultiChoice said that it remains committed to acting in the interests of shareholders and creating long-term shareholder value. A mandatory offer to shareholders would be triggered if Canal Plus acquires 35% or more of MultiChoice’s shares.
HAVE YOU ALSO READ?: CSA and SuperSport Launch New T20 Competition
Earlier in June, MultiChoice announced that it had increased its pay-TV subscriber base by 900,000 customers, bringing its number up to 21.8 million households, comprising nine million in South Africa and 12.8 million in the rest of sub-Saharan Africa.
Despite operating in the same region, MultiChoice and Canal Plus have rarely come into conflict since French-language operator Canal Plus Afrique launched in 2012. MultiChoice is primarily focused on English-language content. Likewise, Canal Plus exclusively acquires French-language rights to sports properties and does not acquire English-language rights.
Rare moments of acrimony between the two giants have mostly been due to territorial disputes, where Canal Plus has occasionally been granted French-language rights to premium sport in English-speaking territories, diluting SuperSport’s exclusivity. Aside from a dispute over Diamond League rights in 2016 – after Canal Plus was granted French-language rights across English-speaking sub-Saharan Africa in error – the two media giants have been happy to leave each other alone.
SuperSport, which operates 35 channels in 54 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, has a strong sports rights portfolio.