Africa: MultiChoice teams up with NBCUniversal and Sky

MultiChoice Group has secured a partnership with Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Sky to make new content available for streaming customers across MultiChoice’s 50-market footprint in sub-Saharan Africa. “We launched Showmax as the first African streaming service in 2015 and are extremely proud of its success to date. This agreement represents a great opportunity for our Showmax team to scale even greater heights by working with a leading global player in Comcast and its subsidiaries,” Chief Executive Officer of MultiChoice, Calvo Mawela, said. “The new business venture deepens an already strong relationship and builds on the Sky Glass technology partnership that we announced in September last year. We believe we are extremely well positioned to create a winning platform going forward.”

The new Showmax group will be 70% owned by MultiChoice and 30% by NBCUniversal. It will build on Showmax’s success to date and aim to create the leading streaming service in Africa. Powered by Peacock’s leading, globally-scaled technology, Showmax subscribers will have access to an extensive premium content portfolio, bringing African audiences the best of local and international programming. "The service will combine MultiChoice’s accelerating investment in local content with a unique pipeline of award-winning and critically acclaimed international content licensed from NBCUniversal and Sky, third party content from HBO, Warner Brothers International, Sony and others, as well as live English Premier League (EPL) football," a recent release reveals.

Coming during a time of influx of broadband connectivity and affordability in Africa, the collaboration will also make way for prominent African content such as Showmax Originals and local content from MultiChoice's proprietary channels including Mzansi Magic, Africa Magic and Maisha Magic. “This partnership is an incredible opportunity to further scale the global presence of Peacock’s world-class streaming technology, as well as to introduce millions of new customers to extensive premium content from NBCUniversal and Sky’s stellar entertainment brands," Matt Strauss, Chairman, Direct-to-Consumer & International, NBCUniversal, said.

Using a catalog of global media assets and Peacock’s streaming platform, which ended last year with more than 20 million paid subscribers in the US, NBCUniversal and Sky will contribute the licensing of both technology and content. Additional details regarding the new Showmax service, including launch date, content and pricing will be announced at a later date.“This new collaboration in streaming and content with MultiChoice, NBCUniversal, and Sky takes our partnership to the next level in one of the world's most vibrant, fastest growing markets," Dana Strong, Group Chief Executive Officer, Sky, said. "Last year, we announced MultiChoice as a customer of the Sky Glass platform and now we are excited to help innovate its Showmax streaming service.”