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- NBCUniversal is planning to cut dozens of employees as the African streamer it jointly operated with Canal+ shuts down.
- Showmax was an “expensive failure,” said Canal+, which owns 70% of the venture.
- NBCU employees were informed about the change on Wednesday.
NBCUniversal is planning to let go of dozens of staffers as an African streaming service it operated in partnership with French broadcaster Canal+ shuts down.
The layoffs affect employees who worked on the streamer Showmax, two people familiar with the cuts told Business Insider. A streaming employee briefed on Wednesday on the cuts said about a dozen US staffers on the global streaming product team were impacted, and that dozens of others could be affected internationally. A second person familiar with the layoffs said there’s a consultation process involved with the international cuts.
Showmax, which Canal+ operated jointly with Comcast subsidiaries NBCU and Sky, told customers last week that it would be shut down, though it didn’t say when.
Canal+ called the money-losing Showmax an “expensive failure” in its fourth-quarter earnings report on Wednesday. The French company owns 70% of Showmax after acquiring South African TV provider MultiChoice. Comcast holds the remaining 30% stake in all but one of the 44 African countries where Showmax operates.
The soon-to-be-gone Showmax runs on the same tech platform as US-only Peacock and the European streamer SkyShowtime.
Unlike other major streamers, Peacock isn’t trying to go worldwide.
Comcast co-CEO Mike Cavanagh said in early March that the flagship streamer isn’t planning to expand internationally, telling investors that “domestic is our path.”