Showmax will stop accepting subscription renewals on 31 March 2026. From 1 April, new subscriptions and renewals close entirely.
Existing subscribers keep access until their current subscription expires or until the end of April, whichever arrives first. After eleven years and 44 markets across Sub-Saharan Africa, one of the continent’s most prominent streaming platforms winds down in five weeks.
The Timeline, In Full
The dates arrived in an email sent to subscribers on Wednesday, the clearest consumer-facing communication since Canal+ announced the shutdown citing losses at the African streamer it described as “unacceptable.”
That original announcement landed without a transition plan or a subscriber timeline, leaving millions of users across Nairobi, Lagos, and Johannesburg uncertain about what would happen to their accounts, their watchlists, and the shows they had followed for years. Wednesday’s email filled in the calendar, if not much else.
Where the Content Goes
Showmax Originals will migrate to DStv Stream, which MultiChoice is now positioning as its central streaming hub. The company’s email framed the move in characteristically upbeat terms:
“Showmax is starting a new chapter, and your favourite shows are getting a shiny new home on DStv Stream.”
The language also carried a hint of something larger. The phrase “a bigger world of entertainment, all in one place” points toward a consolidation play, one that could eventually fold Canal+ and MultiChoice’s currently fragmented digital products into a unified streaming ecosystem. Reports have circulated that Canal+ is exploring a single “super app” that would bring these services together, though that remains unconfirmed.
What the email does not explain is how Showmax subscribers will be migrated to DStv Stream automatically, what that process looks like, and crucially, what it will cost.
The Price Gap Nobody Is Talking About
That last question matters enormously, because the two services do not occupy the same price bracket. They are not even close.
In Kenya, Showmax currently charges KSh 720 per month for its combined Entertainment and Premier League package, KSh 550 for Entertainment only, and KSh 450 for Premier League only. DStv Stream’s lowest tier starts at KSh 1,450 per month. Its premium tier reaches KSh 11,700.
To put that in context: Netflix’s top tier in Kenya costs less than DStv Stream’s entry-level package. So does Amazon Prime Video’s premium offering. A Showmax subscriber on the base KSh 450 plan faces a minimum price increase of more than three times simply to access the platform where their content now lives — assuming they can access it at all.
MultiChoice has said further details on how subscribers can continue enjoying Showmax Originals on DStv Stream will follow. It has not said when.
What the Industry Lost
The shutdown carries weight beyond the subscriber inconvenience. For over a decade, Showmax commissioned and distributed African storytelling at a scale that few platforms on the continent matched. Filmmakers, writers, and actors built careers on its original commissions. When the closure was first announced, that community responded with alarm not just about jobs and projects, but about the narrowing of a platform that had genuinely invested in local content rather than treating Africa as a secondary market for global catalogue.
That investment does not automatically transfer to DStv Stream. Whether the new home sustains the same commissioning appetite, or simply absorbs the library while cutting production spend, remains entirely unknown.
