Takeover will 'get messy'

Acquirer is focused on pay TV, while entertainment company is focused on anything but pay TV.

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Some underreported comments from Canal+ chair and CEO Maxime Saada, who was in the country in June, suggest that MultiChoice is in for a rough ride once the takeover by the French pay TV operator succeeds. (At this point, there is no reason to suggest it won't - it seems to have a plan regarding restrictions on foreign ownership).

Canal+ needs MultiChoice to bulk up ahead of its parent Vivendi's split into three entities. Right now, Canal+ lacks the scale needed to be listed separately. The plan is to list the group in London, with a secondary listing on the JSE (mostly to placate local shareholders and probably government).

The French operation is simple. It runs pay TV services in France and a number of European and African countries, as well as in French Overseas Territories. It operates channels. It also runs a production and distribution company, StudioCanal. Overall, it has more than 26 million subscribers in 50 countries worldwide.