Showmax Is Shutting Down! See What Happens to Your Subscription.
After 11 years of trying to be Africa's answer to Netflix, Showmax is closing its doors. The money ran out, the competition was too fierce and the new owners have made their decision.
If you have a Showmax subscription, this message is for you. The streaming service you have been using to watch your favourite African shows and international series is shutting down. It is not slowing down or rebranding; it is shutting down completely, and the timeline is closer than you might think.
On March 5, 2026, Canal+, the French company that now owns MultiChoice, confirmed that Showmax will be discontinued. Subscribers received emails this week with the specific dates, and what follows is a plain breakdown of everything you need to know.
March 31, 2026, is the last day you can renew your subscription or use any voucher you have. From April 1, no new subscriptions or renewals will be accepted. If you are already subscribed, you can continue watching until your current subscription expires or until the end of April 2026, whichever comes first. After that, Showmax as a standalone app simply stops working.
Here is the part that will bring some relief. Showmax is not taking its shows with it. All the content on the platform, including Showmax Originals and the African films and series the platform was known for, will migrate to DStv Stream, which is MultiChoice's other streaming platform built for DStv and GOtv subscribers. MultiChoice has promised to share details on how existing Showmax users can access their content on DStv Stream before the final shutdown date.
How Did It Get to This Point?
Showmax launched in August 2015 with a bold mission: to be Africa's homegrown answer to Netflix. At its peak, it was operating in 44 countries, commissioning original African films, Nigerian reality shows, South African dramas and Kenyan productions that no other platform was willing to back. It was genuinely doing something important for African storytelling.
But the numbers were brutal. In the three years before Canal+ took over MultiChoice, Showmax accumulated losses of approximately $428.9 million. In 2025 alone, those losses grew by 88 percent to $297 million while revenue dropped to just $48.5 million, a fraction of the $1 billion annual target the company had set for itself.
In 2024, MultiChoice and NBCUniversal, the American media company behind Peacock, invested $309 million to completely rebuild Showmax's technology and relaunch it as a stronger competitor to Netflix. It did not work. Subscribers did not come in the numbers needed. Costs remained too high. And when Canal+ completed its $3 billion acquisition of MultiChoice in September 2025, the new owners looked at the books and made a decision that was, by that point, almost inevitable.
Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada described Showmax in a January 2026 investor call as simply "not commercially successful." Two months later, the board confirmed the shutdown.
Nobody is losing their job. Everyone currently working on Showmax is being moved to other roles within the broader MultiChoice and Canal+ group. The company made a commitment when it acquired MultiChoice not to cut headcount for three years, and it is honouring that.
committed, when it acquired MultiChoice, not to cut headcount for three years, and it is honouring that commitment
What Does This Mean for African Content?
This is the part of the story that goes beyond subscriptions and app updates. Showmax was one of the very few platforms commissioning African stories on a real scale. Nigerian shows, Kenyan productions, and South African series that told authentic local stories – many of those were only possible because Showmax was willing to fund them.
Canal+ has promised to continue investing in African content through DStv's linear channels and through a future unified streaming platform it is building, but the details of what that looks like remain unclear.
For Nigerian subscribers, the practical reality is straightforward. Your app stops working in April. Your content moves to DStv Stream. And Africa's streaming landscape just became a little less competitive for the people building it locally.
Are you a Showmax subscriber? How are you feeling about the shutdown, and will you be switching to DStv Stream?
