by Thinus Ferreira
In yet another shocking content cost-cutting move, France's Canal+ has ripped away the 2026 Winter Olympics Games from MultiChoice's SuperSport that won't have any Winter Olympic Games coverage for DStv subscribers at all from today.
Canal+ that owns MultiChoice since September 2025 has ripped away all sports content acquisition from SuperSport in South Africa, with Canal+'s group content officer division that now decides from Paris, France what sports content will be bought and given to SuperSport in South Africa and across sub-Saharan Africa.
Canal+'s MultiChoice and SuperSport didn't make any announcement out of its own, ahead of time that it no longer will have the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, and MultiChoice said absolutely nothing to DStv subscribers ahead of paying their February subscriptions, either through email or any other notifications.
In response to a media query, SuperSport confirms to TVwithThinus that MultiChoice and SuperSport won't have any 2026 Winter Olympic Games coverage at all for DStv subscribers like MultiChoice and SuperSport had for decades.
"SuperSport, a MultiChoice company, wishes
to clarify to our viewers that the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics
are not included in our content offering," SuperSport admits.
"Broadcast rights for global
sporting events are secured through specific
tender processes and commercial agreements."
"For the 2026 Winter Games, SuperSport did
not acquire the broadcast rights for the territories in which we
operate. Our content strategy remains focused on delivering the
most-watched sporting codes on the continent."
"Viewers wishing to watch the Milan-Cortina
2026 Winter Olympics will need to access the relevant broadcasters or
platforms that have secured the rights for this specific event," says SuperSport.
What SuperSport is saying is that Canal+, MultiChoice and SuperSport no longer see the 2026 Winter Olympics Games as something that is a "most-watched sporting code" or something worth bringing to DStv subscribers, which is absolutely shocking and astounding.
The 2026 Winter Olympic Games is taking place from today, 6 February, until 22 February, with South Africa having its largest Winter Olympics sports team ever to go and compete - fully placing the global sporting event in the category of a South African sporting event of national importance.
Canal+ forcing DStv to dump the 2026 Winter Olympic Games further shows how Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada and Canal+ Africa CEO David Mignot lied to investors and the media when they made hollow promises that MultiChoice and DStv would not lose content and would bring DStv subscribers more content than before in 2026.
Canal+'s MultiChoice and SuperSport already started to remove other sports content since the end of 2025 it used to have, like the Philly's Games football in Thembisa in December, as well as other sports content, with Canal+, MultiChoice and SuperSport apparently thinking that Dstv subscribers and the industry won't notice the shocking content cuts.
