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Showmax shuts down outside Africa

MultiChoice’s on-demand video streaming service Showmax will no longer be available outside Africa from next month, the company announced in a notice on its website.

Showmax said it had made the “strategic decision” to focus specifically on the African market and on meeting the needs of its growing customer base across the continent.

“From 1 December, we’ll be available only in African markets,” Showmax said.

The streaming service explained that the “Showmax shutdown” outside of Africa would happen at midnight on November 30, 2023.

The current version of Showmax has been available in Australia, Europe, New Zealand, and North America since December 2015.

It allowed South African expats and travellers to access content unavailable on other platforms — including Showmax Originals and a plethora of local productions featured on DStv channels like Mzansi Magic and KykNET.

The change comes as MultiChoice prepares to launch a revamped Showmax powered by technology from NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming platform.

The “Showmax 2.0” project is part of a major deal with the US media and entertainment conglomerate.

The agreement will see NBCUniversal gain a 30per cent stake in a new Showmax group called EarthCo. MultiChoice will retain 70per cent ownership of the entity.

MultiChoice said that the service would combine its accelerating investment in local content with an extensive pipeline of international content licensed from NBCUniversal and Sky.

“This will be complemented by third-party content from HBO, Warner Brothers International, Sony and others, as well as live English Premier League football.”

In a separate FAQ section, Showmax said its new streaming platform would only be available in 44 sub-Saharan African countries.

The streaming service is set to launch before the end of March 2024.

The good news for expats or expatriates and global fans of MultiChoice’s content is that at least some of it will be available on other platforms.

Showmax said although its original content was primarily created for its own platform, a selection of co-productions and originals would be available on other entertainment platforms across the globe “from time to time”.

“We will continue to explore new and exciting entertainment solutions for our African content fans,” it added.

A Showmax spokesperson told MyBroadband that MultiChoice Studios would continue to license content and co-produce content for international markets.

“MultiChoice has seen a huge increase in demand for our African content, with MultiChoice Studios’ international sales seeing 38per cent growth in the 2023 financial year,” they explained.

“As examples, Reyka (aka The Cane Field Killings) alone was sold by Fremantle to 147 territories, including BritBox North America, CANAL+, Channel 4 in the UK, HBO LatAm, and Sky Italia.”

“Similarly, we’ve seen strong sales for our African editions of The Real Housewives franchise, through our partnership with NBCUniversal Formats. In future, we’ll continue to work with global distribution partners to take our content to the widest possible international audience.

Even though Showmax said it would only shut down the service for international subscribers at the end of November, at least one user on Twitter/X said they were already cut off in the past few days.

This includes Egypt Koketso (@mamiperez_), who complained that Showmax had “cancelled all accounts outside Africa” after no longer being able to access the service in her country.

She also posted a screenshot of a conversation with her mother showing an error message on Showmax stating that the service was no longer offered in her country.

Interestingly, the flag Koketso had on her Twitter/X profile in addition to the South African flag was that of Mauritius, which is considered a sub-Saharan African country.

It is possible that Mauritius is not included in the list of 44 countries where the new Showmax service will be available initially.

“There are a few African countries that will not have access to Showmax at launch but details will become available soon,” its website states.

Koketso also complained that she had already paid for her November subscription.

Showmax specifically stated that people with auto-renewal subscriptions would not be charged after October 30, 2023 and could continue to access the service until the last day of their subscription.

The Showmax spokesperson denied that any of its customers had been cut off prematurely.

It encouraged customers who had problems accessing the service to use its website’s live chat feature or email support@showmax.com so that it could investigate.