At the heart of the new offering is the world’s first standalone Premier League plan for mobile, with all 380 games offered live on Showmax Premier League for just R69 a month. 

“There are currently just over 450 million smartphones in the hands of individuals across Africa … and more than 250 million avid football lovers on the continent,” says Marc Jury, CEO of Showmax. “Showmax Premier League is a game-changing product that gives individuals a ticket to the football they love, wherever they are, on the device they always have with them, at a price that’s impossible not to love.”  

“Africa is incredibly important to the Premier League and our clubs; 20% of TV audiences on any given matchday come from Africa,” says Richard Masters, Premier League CEO. “We are delighted with this Showmax initiative, which puts the Premier League in your pocket at a new price point so that millions more can enjoy our fantastic competition.” 

In addition, there are two more Showmax plans available to customers in 44 African countries: Showmax Entertainment on mobile for an unbelievable R39 a month at launch, as well as the Showmax Entertainment plan, where the monthly price falls from R99 to R89 per month.  

Core to the success of Showmax’s streaming ambitions in Africa is a new technical platform that is robust and built to scale. With the launch of Showmax, the Peacock streaming platform will be active in more than 70 countries and is continually enhanced by the combined expertise of thousands of engineers. The world-class platform has brought millions of viewers popular events such as Super Bowl LVI, the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 final, the Olympics and WrestleMania 39. On 13 January, Peacock’s exclusive AFC Wild Card Game became the biggest live-streamed event in US history, reaching 27.6 million viewers and a record 16.3 million concurrent devices. In 2023, Comcast won a Technology and Engineering Emmy Award for its sports viewing experiences across Peacock, Sky and Xfinity.  

“Peacock’s best-in-class technology platform will deliver a world-class streaming experience to Showmax audiences,” said Patrick Miceli, Executive Vice President & Chief Technology Officer, Direct-to-Consumer & International, NBCUniversal. “The Peacock platform was designed from day one to support both live and on-demand content, including the biggest live sporting events, so we look forward to extending that capability and reliability to the new Showmax.” 

Alongside the Premier League, the new Showmax also opens the door to a thrilling entertainment universe spanning a wide range of stars and stories across multiple genres. With no fewer than 21 new Showmax Originals launching in February alone, there will be more than 1 300 hours of Showmax Originals produced in the coming year, representing a significant 150% increase in production output compared to the year before. 

Showmax will also continue to draw from the likes of Paramount, including Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning and Halo S2 in February, and HBO, with new seasons of House of the Dragon, The Last of Us, True Detective, and The White Lotus on the way. 

Showmax’s content offering is further boosted by its focus on the African market and strengthened by the vast creative and commercial presence already established by MultiChoice. “Nobody understands Africa like we do. Showmax is putting the continent first with a powerful streaming service that will revolutionise streaming in Africa in 2024,” says Calvo Mawela, MultiChoice Group CEO.  

This payment ecosystem is facilitated by Moment, another MultiChoice joint venture partner. Working with more than 200 payment partners such as banks, mobile money providers, retailers and payment schemes, Moment is building the broadest pan-African payments network. In addition, DStv customers will continue to have the option of adding Showmax to their DStv bill each month and benefitting from significant discounts. Showmax will be announcing additional partnerships soon that will offer even more value to customers. 

The new Showmax app will become available in app stores from 23 January 2024 onward, as part of a staggered migration process across 44 markets. This is an ongoing process that starts next week and will be completed in February this year. Existing Showmax customers will begin receiving communication with information on how to access the new app this week and by 12 February 2024 the new Showmax will be live in all markets. 

The agreement will result in two 24-hour ESPN channels being made available to DStv customers from 29 July, where we will be able to enjoy the very best of US sports. The channel is essentially making a comeback and fellow sports fans will recall that it used to be available as part of the pay channel offering a few years ago.

Featuring every major US sport as well as European football, fans across the continent can now look forward to popular premier American leagues including the National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL) and Major League Baseball (MLB), via ESPN & ESPN2. The channels will also feature live football from the English Football League (EFL), Scottish Premier Football League (SPFL), Dutch Eredivisie and Major League Soccer (MLS), as well as local sports including the West African Football Union (WAFU) Cup of Nations and featured boxing tournaments and events.

DStv customers can look forward to the much anticipated return of the NBA from the bio-bubble from 31 July, where LeBron James and the LA Lakers renew their city rivalry with the LA Clippers and Orlando Magic take on the Brooklyn Nets. The Major League Baseball (MLB) regular season will also take prominence on ESPN, with fixtures between the Oakland Athletics and Colorado Rockies (29 July), and a stunning triple header for the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees from 1-3 August.

“As Africa’s leading video entertainment platform, we are unwavering in our commitment to ensure that we continue to find the best available content to delight our customers, both now and into the future. We endeavour to deliver both world-class international content as well as the very best in local content, giving our loyal customers a never-ending selection of outstanding entertainment,” says MultiChoice Group CEO, Calvo Mawela.

“From reliving the greatest moments in sports history to seeing those moments being made, ESPN’s compelling content and unique personality will be a complementary addition to MultiChoice Group’s sports offering,” says Christine Service, Senior Vice President and Country Manager of The Walt Disney Company Africa. “We are thrilled to be bringing the achievements and triumphs of both international and local athletes, our quality storytelling and innovative programming to a whole new audience of sports fans in Africa.”

Together with the live sports programming, we will also be able to catch up on the very latest films, series, news, talk shows and highlights from ESPN’s iconic sports documentary and studio programming.

“In addition to being the home of American sports, ESPN is equally well-known for its dedication to great storytelling, something we as Africa’s most-loved storyteller can identify with,” concludes Mawela.

Sports fans will agree that this is really huge news and another big win for Dstv. For broadcast details then feel free to go here.