Meet David Mignot: The man driving Canal+ to the top of Africa’s pay TV market
By K24 Digital Reporter, October 13, 2025When France’s Canal+ finalised its landmark acquisition of South Africa’s MultiChoice on September 22, it marked a new era for Africa’s audiovisual industry.
At the centre of this transformation stands David Mignot, the man described by colleagues and critics alike as “an outstanding salesman” — a leader whose mix of charm, drive, and cultural understanding has made Canal+ a household name across the continent.
A graduate of France’s prestigious École Polytechnique, Mignot now heads Canal+ Africa, which unites Canal+’s dominance in Francophone Africa with MultiChoice’s extensive reach in Anglophone markets and Group Vivendi Africa’s (GVA) broadband network.
The result is a new continental media powerhouse — one that Mignot believes can turn African storytelling into a global force.
“There is a before and after David Mignot for Canal+ in Africa. He’s an outstanding salesman. He knows what needs to be done and has a very friendly approach,” says one of the most vocal critics of the near-monopoly Canal+ has built over the years in Francophone Africa.
When Mignot took over Canal+ operations in 2013, the broadcaster had just over one million subscribers. 12 years later, before the MultiChoice deal, that number had grown to more than eight million families following nearly 4,000 hours of programming.
He also launched several new channels, including A+, focused on African series and entertainment.
Unapologetically confident, Mignot sees no reason why Canal+ Africa — now strengthened by MultiChoice — cannot become a global content producer.
“There’s nothing extraordinary about it,” he says. “That’s exactly what happened with the Turkish audiovisual ecosystem in the early 2000s. There’s no reason it can’t happen the same way for Africa.”
His philosophy is simple but bold: tell strong African stories that resonate worldwide. “When we tell the story of the Zulu king Shaka Zulu, we’re not making Black Panther. Both are great, but I’ve never travelled to Wakanda!” he jokes.
Even though Canal+ is 2.5 times larger than MultiChoice in revenue terms — €6.45 billion in 2024 versus €2.54 billion — Mignot surprised many when he appeared personally at the 2024 acquisition talks.
“Soon enough, they understood that we’d been on the continent for 35 years, with thousands of African employees producing audiovisual content, music, shows, and more. We weren’t just a European company landing on African soil — and that was very well received,” explains Mignot.
Having spent 26 weeks a year travelling across 35 countries, Mignot has become fluent not only in African market dynamics but also in its culinary quirks.
“In Burkina Faso, chili is powdered; in Rwanda, it comes in a small vial — very handy for travel; in Mauritius, it’s more fragrant,” he notes.
Despite concerns about Canal+’s growing dominance, Mignot remains focused on expansion. “Our goal is for at least one out of every two families, in the forty countries where we operate, to be customers of the new entity.”
He also addresses fears of homogenisation head-on: “I understand the risk of standardisation. That would only happen if we did our job poorly.
I don’t believe in closed ecosystems in any form of art. I’ve always made sure to make access easy for talents, creatives, and production companies to the Canal+ platform.”
As for critics who link Canal+ to Vincent Bolloré’s ideological influence, Mignot dismisses the idea: “What matters to me are the eight million households — with seven people per family — who use Canal+ every day. Their opinion is what counts.
From that perspective, the Bolloré question, or France, is incomprehensible to the overwhelming majority of our ecosystem — whether customers, employees, distributors, production partners, or the channels we work with. It’s simply not part of their daily concerns. Proof? Our subscriber base keeps growing.”
Fighting piracy is another of his priorities. “It’s a cancer for the industry,” he says, welcoming the addition of MultiChoice’s cybersecurity arm, Irdeto, to the Canal+ group.
In Mignot’s words, his mission is simple yet ambitious: “to fill people’s free time.” And as he continues to climb — both in business and on his beloved rock cliffs — it’s clear that for David Mignot and Canal+, Africa’s entertainment story is only just beginning.