Canal+ reported first-half 2026 revenues of €4.29 billion, up 40% from €3.07 billion a year earlier, with nearly all of that surge tied to its acquisition of African pay-television group MultiChoice. The figures were revealed in the company's own morning announcement on 28 July 2026 and reported by Deadline.

Strip out MultiChoice, and the picture is far quieter. Canal+ on its own grew revenue just 1.4% year-on-year. The adjusted EBIT — a measure of operating profit before one-off costs — told a similar story: group-wide it rose 68% to €433 million, but excluding MultiChoice the increase was 13%. The group's adjusted EBIT margin landed at 10.1%.

What carried the numbers was, in large part, a decision to stop something. MultiChoice shut down its streaming platform Showmax earlier in 2026, as Reuters reported on 5 March 2026. Showmax had bled money — a €52 million loss on revenues of just €23 million in the first half of 2025. Its discontinuation fed directly into MultiChoice's synergies, the cost savings a buyer expects to extract after an acquisition. MultiChoice synergies contributed €120 million in the half, including the Showmax impact.

MultiChoice itself turned a corner. Its adjusted EBIT jumped 160% to €143 million, up from €55 million a year earlier. CEO Maxime Saada said Canal+ has now reached half of its €250 million synergies target from the MultiChoice deal — a target measured before VAT settlement and restructuring costs, according to the Financial Times. Canal+ also confirmed its full-year and medium-term guidance, signalling that management sees no reason to revise its outlook.

The path to these numbers was not smooth. In March 2026, Reuters reported that Canal+ had warned on the outlook for MultiChoice, sending shares lower. That same month, the Financial Times noted that €120 million in free cash flow cost synergies had already been booked in Canal+'s 2025 full-year results — meaning the half-year figure Saada cited builds on ground already covered.

Canal+ also pursued a secondary listing in Johannesburg following the MultiChoice acquisition, Reuters reported, anchoring the combined group to both European and African markets.

Studiocanal, the group's film and television production arm, posted H1 2026 revenues of €356 million, up 9.9%. Its adjusted EBIT fell 3% to €28 million — a reminder that the production business, separate from the pay-television and streaming engine, carries its own margins and its own pressures.

For the people who make and watch television across Canal+'s footprint — from Paris to Johannesburg — the half-year results confirm that the MultiChoice acquisition now sets the pace. The growth is real, but it is growth bought with a deal, not grown from within.