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MultiChoice has seen about 10% of its South African workforce exit the business through a voluntary severance programme (VSP), as part of a broader restructuring drive by parent company Canal+ aimed at repositioning the pay-TV group for growth and cutting costs.While MultiChoice did not confirm the exact number of employees who accepted the offer, industry sources estimate that about 312 out of a workforce of just over 3,400 opted for voluntary severance in South Africa. Outside South Africa, 343 employees are understood to have taken voluntary severance packages. In total MultiChoice’s workforce across the continent has been reduced by about 12% to 4,827.However, one source cautioned that these figures were compiled before the programme’s May 31 closing date and could still change as the company tally last-minute applications. “The VSP is designed to support the long-term sustainability and growth of MultiChoice, and participation is entirely voluntary,” the company said in response to questions from Business Times.“The programme forms part of a broader organisational resizing and rebalancing effort to align resources with the company’s strategic priorities and customer needs, including the ongoing recruitment of more than 1,000 sales employees as part of the commercial relaunch plan. As this is an internal process, we will not be providing detailed, ongoing commentary on the specific aspects of the programme.”The workforce reduction comes as Canal+ accelerates an ambitious turnaround strategy aimed at reigniting subscriber growth after several years of decline. Central to the plan is a shift away from a head office-heavy operating model towards a more field-focused commercial structure centred on distribution, sales and customer acquisition.To support the turnaround, Canal+ has committed €100m to what it describes as a “growth boost plan”. The investment will be directed towards expanding distribution networks and recruiting more than 1,000 sales employees across MultiChoice’s African markets.When you benchmark Canal+ in Africa and MultiChoice, particularly the number of points of sale per household, there is a significant gap between the two. We have to fill that gap. We’re talking about 35,000 points of sale across Africa— David Mignot, Canal+ Africa CEO The focus will be on sales agents, installers and retail outlets, as it seeks to revive subscriber growth in Africa’s traditional satellite pay-TV market.Speaking at Canal+ Africa’s JSE listing last week, Canal+ Africa CEO David Mignot highlighted what he sees as a significant distribution gap between Canal+ and MultiChoice.“When you benchmark Canal+ in Africa and MultiChoice, particularly the number of points of sale per household, there is a significant gap between the two. We have to fill that gap. We’re talking about 35,000 points of sale across Africa. We have a serious gap and are accelerating across the MultiChoice footprint,” he said.Mignot has been explicit about the need to return MultiChoice to sustainable growth and profitability. Speaking earlier this year, he argued that the company has too many resources concentrated at its headquarters and not enough deployed in the field.He noted that until the 2022/23 financial year, MultiChoice had been regarded as a highly effective sales organisation, admired even within Canal+. “For years, it has been a source of ideas for Canal+ in Africa. We were like a little brother copying with pride. If you look at sales, points of sale and investment in marketing, it was very powerful. Then it started declining quite fast. We have to re-accelerate that.”The relaunch strategy, therefore, includes a substantial increase in points of sale, marketing expenditure, and frontline personnel. “From an ecosystem perspective, we’re going to reinforce a lot in the field and less in the headquarters,” Mignot said.Last year, he said that Canal+ Africa’s ambition is to be in one in two households everywhere it operates. “Our goal, what we’ve been doing for years, for decades... we’re not chasing subscribers. What we want in every place where you find electricity; we want to have a penetration rate of at least 50%. We want one house in two to have a Canal+ bouquet subscription. In some towns 80% of the households have a subscription to Canal.”Business Times
