by Thinus Ferreira
South Africa's parliament wants to look into how many job losses there will be in the country's film and TV industry because of Canal+'s shutdown of MultiChoice's video streaming service Showmax, with parliament's portfolio committee on communications set to do special oversight visits to MultiChoice and eMedia's e.tv as commercial broadcasters.
Canal+ announced it's shutting down Showmax and replacing it with its own Canal+ app, noting that the loss-making Showmax "would have brought down MultiChoice".
According to the agreement with South Africa's Competition Commission, Canal+ and MultiChoice are not allowed to do any retrenchments within MultiChoice for a period of three years from September 2025.
About shutting down Showmax, Canal+ in a statement said that "The decision to discontinue Showmax will not involve any retrenchments. The group will be engaging and supporting employees through various transition options".
While not allowed to get rid of Showmax staff, Canal+ Africa and MultiChoice are however, allowed to decrease the production spending budget or what was spent on productions that made shows specifically for the streamer as Showmax Originals, which might lead to fewer production companies having commissioned projects, and fewer overall people employed by those production companies.
Sixolise Gcilishe, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) member of parliament, requested Khusela Sangoni-Diko, chairperson of the parliamentary committee, for an investigation of MultiChoice in terms of Showmax and the coming job losses for the local industry that its closure will cause, and what the impact will be for local TV and film production.
According to Sixolise Gcilishe, Canal+'s decision to shut down Showmax "raises significant concerns relevant to our committee's responsibilities, particularly regarding the support of the local creative industry, job retention, and adherence to transformation goals within our digital economy".
"Showmax has been crucial in contributing to our national identity and pushing the South African narrative by providing a platform for local producers, actors, writers and technical teams."
"Its discontinuation poses a serious risk of diminishing a critical distribution avenue for local content, potentially resulting in a cultural landscape overly influenced by international programmes."
We need to hear from MultiChoice about the future of local productions currently featured on Showmax and the status of existing production contracts. South Africa is grappling with severe unemployment."
"Any significant corporate changes by a major entity like MultiChoice will likely result in job losses, affecting not just the company but also the wider creative sector, including writers, directors, editors and freelance workers reliant on streaming services for income."
Sixolise Gcilishe says MultiChoice executives in their presentation to parliament must give a specific timeline and reasons for ending or restructuring Showmax, as well as a thorough assessment of the potential job losses - both at MultiChoice and also within the wider film and TV industry.
MultiChoice must also answer about the future of existing Showmax Original productions and the accessibility of these productions to South Africa's viewers.
According to Sangoni-Diko, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa), as well as the Competition Commission, will brief the committee on Tuesday, 17 March, on the regulatory conditions, public interest commitments and the compliance requirements which are all linked to Canal+'s final approval for taking over MultiChoice.
"Following this, the committee is working on scheduling a special oversight visit to the broadcast sector on 31 March and 1 April 2026, covering e.tv, MultiChoice, and other commercial broadcasters."