New Samsung Smart TVs sold in Uganda will come with the DStv Stream app pre-installed starting this month, under an expanded partnership between Samsung Electronics and Canal+, the French media group that controls MultiChoice Group, DStv’s parent company.
The arrangement, which took effect on 1 June 2026, covers 18 African countries where MultiChoice operates, including Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Angola and Zimbabwe. It is the first time a MultiChoice streaming app has been pre-loaded onto Samsung televisions in these markets, extending a similar arrangement Canal+ already has with Samsung across roughly 40 markets in Europe, Asia and French-speaking Africa.
In practice, the deal removes a step for consumers: rather than downloading the DStv Stream app after setting up a new television, users will find it already sitting on the home screen, alongside whatever other apps Samsung includes by default. DStv Stream carries live sport — including this year’s FIFA World Cup, the English Premier League and rugby — along with general entertainment content, and competes in Uganda’s growing streaming market against services such as Netflix, Showmax and local broadcasters’ own apps.
The move comes at a moment when MultiChoice, long built around satellite pay-TV subscriptions, is leaning harder into app-based streaming as more African viewers shift to connected devices. The company has faced pressure in recent years from falling decoder subscriptions in several markets and growing competition from international streaming platforms, and pre-installation deals like this one are a low-cost way to put its app in front of buyers before they’ve made any decision about what to watch.
For Samsung, the deal is part of a broader pattern among smart TV manufacturers of striking content partnerships to differentiate their devices, rather than competing purely on hardware specifications.
David Mignot, who heads both Canal+ Africa and MultiChoice Group, framed the expansion as a response to changing viewing habits on the continent, saying it would make it “easier for millions of MultiChoice Group’s subscribers to seamlessly access” the companies’ content on connected devices.
Neither company disclosed the financial terms of the arrangement or how many Samsung Smart TV units are expected to ship in Uganda or the wider region under the deal.
MultiChoice Group is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and operates across 50 African countries; it became a subsidiary of Canal+ following the French group’s takeover of the company. Canal+ itself operates in more than 70 countries and reports over 40 million subscribers globally.
