With the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) set to kick off on December 21, newly acquired MultiChoice is facing its first major test under CANAL+ ownership. As millions tune in for the opening match between Morocco and Comoros, the broadcaster is launching an aggressive technical crackdown on piracy, aiming to make illegal streams virtually unwatchable.
For MultiChoice, this isn’t just about sending cease-and-desist letters; it’s about deploying new technology to actively degrade the pirate experience. “Content piracy undermines football. It robs football associations of the funding they desperately need to survive, to develop youth structures and to compete at the highest level, MultiChoice says in a press statement. “It’s therefore critical that sports fans understand the damage they do to the sport they supposedly love when they use pirate streams.”
At the heart of this strategy is a partnership with cybersecurity firm Irdeto. According to details shared by MyBroadband, MultiChoice is utilizing Irdeto’s “high-frequency key cycling” technology.
"Cybersecurity organisations like Irdeto harness tech and digital solutions to protect streams and track the source and the users of pirate feeds. For instance, a new innovation enables continuous renewal of authentication keys, which degrades the pirate experience and shifts users back to legal platforms."In simple terms, digital rights management (DRM) systems usually use “keys” to unlock content for authorized devices. Irdeto’s innovation drastically increases how often these keys are changed, potentially every few seconds. Each time keys refresh, pirate restreams struggle to maintain quality or stability, resulting in buffering, degraded resolution, and eventual failure. Legitimate decoders and apps handle this handshake seamlessly in the background.
The intended result? Viewers on illegal platforms like the recently busted WAKA TV or other underground IPTV networks will likely experience constant buffering, stream failures, and aggressive quality degradation. The goal is to frustrate users enough that they retreat to official, stable channels like SuperSport.
Irdeto also uses content watermarking to trace the source of leaked feeds, both the individual decoder and the distribution path, enabling takedowns and legal action. AI-powered monitoring tools then scrape the web for pirate mirrors, automating shutdowns.
MultiChoice’s statement also highlights user-side risks such as malware, fraud, and compromised devices, while urging Africans to “choose wisely” to protect the future of the sport.
This aggressive stance comes at a critical time. The DCI raid on WAKA TV in Eldoret, Kenya, which exposed a syndicate serving multiple subscribers, highlighted the scale of the problem. For CANAL+, turning around MultiChoice’s financial fortunes relies heavily on securing exclusive sports revenue.
“If broadcaster income from subscriptions… does not cover rights fees, then ultimately, football dies,” MultiChoice further warned, noting that the 2024 AFCON semi-final alone drew 10.3 million viewers.
For CANAL+, AFCON 2025 is more than a tournament. It’s a proof-of-competence moment. The French media giant acquired MultiChoice to stabilise a struggling business whose financial challenges have been compounded by rampant piracy and shrinking ARPUs across Africa.
AFCON will reveal whether CANAL+’s strategy, heavy investment in premium sports, tighter anti-piracy measures, and operational efficiencies, can actually bend the curve.
As the tournament approaches, the message to fans is clear: the cheapest way to watch AFCON 2025 might arguably be the legal way, if only to avoid the headache of a stream that cuts out every few seconds.
AFCON 2025 begins December 21 with Morocco vs Comoros. The anti-piracy war begins just as the whistle blows.
